We printed in these column: the 26th ultimo the stirring appeal that has been drawn up by the Tientsin Relief Committee, whose proposed work is specially referred toin the communicated article with which our issue of to-day opens. The appeal is now being circulated, accompanied by a map of the inundated district, which shows that, taking Yangtsun on the' Peiho, about midway between Tientsin and Hohsiwu, asthe contre, an area of about 5,000 square miles is now or has been quite recently under water. The appeal is also accompanied by the following letter from the Agent of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation at Tientsin to Mr. John Walter, and by the following report of the Sub-Committee. There is also a memorial from Li Hung-chang, the substance of which has appeared already in our abstract of the Peking Gazette. We may add that Subscription List is lying for signature at our otice, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Tientsin, 30th September, 1890, My ear Watren,—It is under exceptional circumstances' that I now ask the favour of your placing the enclosed appeal for subscriptions for the relief of the destitute population in the immediate vicinity of this port, before both the foreign and Chinese members of your community. The disastrous floods, which have overflowed the surrounding districts for many miles on every side, are the worst ever experienced here, and have destroyed the crops upon which alone the sustenance of the poor classes depend. Speaking from past experience here, the coming winter threatens to be a period of unparalleled distress in this province, and any funds, however snail, you may succeed in obtaining will be most gratefully received, while you may rely upon their being entirely employed in relieving the distress of the starving population.
Enclosed you will find the foliowing documents relating to the terrible state of affairs here
with a map showing the districts covered Two cubies of the appeal for relief, by the floods, and subscription lists.
(2) Two copies of a memorial by HE. Li Hung-chang, Viceroy of Chihli, detailing the cause and extent of the floods, and the distress caused by them, Committee, confirming the Viceroy's aemorial, and its details; and one of each of above you might send to your local press for publication, with a notification that the Bank will be glad to receive contributions, 1 also enclose two copies of the translation of the appeal into Chinese, which you may kindly hand to your compradore, asking for the favour of his ey-operation in obtaining subscriptions from his country men. I nay also state that contributions in the shape of cereal foods, such as rice of medium quality, maize, and kaoliang, (or millet), as also of old clothing of any warm material, would be as acceptable as contributions in money. As to this I would draw your attention to the fact that communication by sea between the south and Tientsin is generally closed by the first week in December, sv that shipments should be made not'later than the 20th of November next.
taining substantial contributions, Trusting you. way be successful in obremain, yours very truly, THE FLoops The members of the sub-committee appointed to collect information respecting the extent of the calamity which has fallen on this part of the country have by enquiry and personal investigation obtained enough' to enable them to make a preliminary report; which, how. ever, it must not be expected can be very accurate in details when it is remembered how imperfect are the means of communication, and how untrustworthy are the Chinese in forming estimates of anything beyond their limit of vision.
A glance at a map will show that, taking Tientsin as the centre of a circle' with a radius of about 150 miles, all the water falling within the N.W. quadrant. should eventually find its way into the Peiho just above the city of Tientsin, is what happens in gued years when the rainfall is distributed over several months, and. the watercourses are able to hold the water flow ing into them, but when, as it more often happens, the rainfall comes all at once, so a8 to put too great a strain on the capacity of the streams, the banks are overtopped or else give way, and the level country is flooded to a greater or less extent. The rivers which drain this section of the country, and which all meet just above Tientsin, are, beginning with the Grand Canal, and going round with the hands of the clock: the Grand Canal, which from Lin Ching Chow to Tientsin is formed out of the bed of the Wei River; the Hsia-hsi River; the Shang-hsi River; the Hun or Yung-ting River, and the Peiho.
they did come the year's supply seems to have This your the rains came Into, and when fallen in less than a month. The mountainous districts to the N. and W. of Peking emptied themselves over the plains, which inthe vicinity of the sea have no appreciable fell, so that on all sides to the W., N and E. of Tientsin there is now a vast lake, whose contents in part will flow slowly to the sca but of hich also a large portion must, remain until it disappears by process of infiltration or evaporation. Generally speaking it may be said that all the country round, as far as the sea to the east, and for distance of from 40 to 60 miles to the W., N., and S., is now or has lately been under are lost.
Recently news has been received that ths banks of the Grand Canal have burst in two or three places near Lin Ching Chow, and that the water pouring through the breach on the left bank is flowing towards the N.W. of Tientsin, and must add to the inundations in Honger to exhaust itself than the floods which, that quarter. This new supply will tal coming from the neighbouring hills, first ov whelmed our plains.
All the reports received from eye-witnesses go to show that the waters to the NW. of Tientsin are flowing awa SE. direction in un irresistible body which moves across the course of existing rivers, and even in places overcomes and diverts their current. The Peiho above Tientsin is carrying away but little of this water, much less than its proper share, for through the breaches in its left bank Peiho water is pouring out on to the eastern plain to find its way into the Pehtang Rive The country immediately round Tientsin has been very well explored on all sides. One party circummavigated Tientsin and the suburbs, making a circuit of about 30 miles, The nlaies all round were found to be flooded toa depth varying from 4 to 8 feet; where an embankment or a raised road might huve barred their progress there was always found a breach through which the boat could be hauled up or shot through ws the cas" might be. The observations made by these gentle-show clearly that the raised land on Tientsin and the suburbs stand divides the current of the flood into two streams. Along a line about W, of Tientsin the waters part, the greater portion flowing E. wcross the embankments of the Hunho "ud Peiho, and the rest south across the embankments of the Grand Canal. the Hai Kwang Ssu Arsenal, and entered Another party went to the west, past
the Grand Canal through the breach which is nearest to the city of Tientsin, Pro-coeding west they came to Yang Lin Ching, tite town at the elbow where the Canal makes a right-angled turn to the south, Here was found " large breach, and a few miles further on still another. The northern bank of the canal could seatecly be traced, and to the north no dry lund was visible. Through the breaches just mentioned the water was rushing on to'What may be culled the Racecourse ci fect higher than the water lain, the water to the north of the canal.
to the south. The only outlet for the water issuing through these breaches is through the creeks which fall into the Peiho in its lower sections, Tt is not until Paictang-kow is reached that, the level of the Petho is low enough to allow the floods to drain into it. Beyond Pai-tang-kou the plain d the river wherever there is an opening, but there is no other outlet to the sea in any other direction, for between Ma-chang on the Grand Canal and Hsin Cheng on' the Peiho there runs the Hsiao Chan Cvnal with very substantial banks which serve to dam up the water and prevent the plain draining away ina southerly direction, as it used to do before this Hsiao Chan was constructed. On the other hand, this canal is taking off a large quantity of water from the Grand Canal and leading it Ly a safe channel to the Peiho at Hsin Cheng. Otherwise this water would flow on along the Grand Canal until it came to the breaches, and there add to the supply already on us.' One gentleman explored this Hsiao Chan canal by following The Grand Canal as far as Macchang, and then going through with a strong current to the Peiho at Hsin Cheng. In this canal the water level was higher than in the plain to the north; and the country to the south being protected by the creek embankments had escaped the general inundation, and its flourishing crops are the one bit of bright colour in this sul picture, "Another gentleman followed the course of the Peiho upwards as far as Pei-twing, and ut intervals beyond Hsi-ku, found breaches in the raised Peking road and in both banks of the Peiho, through which the pent up waters of the W. were flowing in an easterly direction AS regards the number of persons who will bein want until the water recedes itis at present impossible to form an estimate, but some conception of the distress may be for ed when it is remembered that what in our own neighbourhood is but a sp mien of what exists for quite one hundred miles, in some directions. The destitute in the vil lages of which Tientsin forms the head quarters are being attended to by the officials and the native benevolent societies. At one time there were 30,000 refugees in and about the city—these principally women and children, but the officials, fearing disease, have taken steps to send them back to their homes. There is @ central organisation in Tientsin called the Ch'ou Chen Chi, fed. This committee collects information and through which official assistance is distribut:
receives reports from the outlying distri and private charitable institutions, bye operating with this central office, are enabled to know in what quarter their assistance may best be bestowed. Children and old men are the first to be relieved, then women, then able-bodied men, No attempt is ever made to
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.