Rain with all its blessings and prospeetive dangers has come, and come early. In this part of China, this early rain means a great deal. The later crops are well-nigh assured. And as the recent crop of wheat was a fair one, though by no means large, the poor, famished people to the south and east have a good year before them.
Yet the prospect is not altogether a bright one, With the proverbial tendency to growl, and at the weather especially, Chinese are foreboding disasters from a rain so early. The rain has come indeed, but it is foo early. The Wei River is rising daily, and the fear is often expressed that it will be unable to carry off all the water which may fall before the summer is over.
Then, too, there is the ever-present, ever-threatening Yellow River. Water from this came up to the south gate of the city a few years ago. Two years since the Viceroy called the attention of the government to the weak embankment which serves to prevent that stream from flowing north into this Wei River. Much has been done since then to guard against another break, whether into Honan or Westsrn Shantung but what about Chihli? Has the memorial of the Viceroy received the attention which it deserved, and the northern bank of the Yellow River been secured against all possible floods?
Linching, June 27th.—Chinese Times.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.