memorial from one of the Censors, presiding over the Roadway Ottice, deseril ing the flooded condition of the capi consequent on the recent heavy rains, and advocating the thorough repair of the whole drainage system of Peking.
Considerable damage, says the memorialist, had already been caused by the hewy rain of the 6th July, when on the 15th it began to descend again in torrents, and continued without intermission for four days and nights. Every house was flooded and many collapsed in consequence, Dlocking the thoroughfares and leaving the unfortunate vecupauts homeless, The government offices located in the vicinity of the south gate of the Palwce were all under water," the officials experiencing considerable difficulty in making their wat in, being in some cases unable to alight from their vehicles. The floods pouring out through the three southern gates. of the Tartar city were in plices over the wheels of the carts, so that locomotion was attended with no small degree of danger, whilst the gates on the south of the outer city could neither be opened nor shut owing to the rush of water all trafic was suspended and even the necessities of life could not be brought into the city.
The cause of all this memoriatint finds in the choked condition of the drains in the capital. He states that in the 7th year of the reign of Chien Lung all the moxts, canals, sewers, drains and water-courses generally throughout the city were cleaned out ant put in thorough working order. In the Bist year of the some reign, however, a censor pointed out that in the outer city they had already lapsed into such a condition ax to be completely choked after any hew y rain; and in consequence of his repre-ons a sum of over Ths. 170,000 spent in putting them in a state of repair. If this was uecessury after the lapse of little over 20 years, how much mare so now, after a further interval of more than 120 years, when half the drains throughout the tity live caved in or disappeared altogether, leaving nothing to show where they for: merly existed. 'The work of cleaning out every spring those drains that still exist is perfectly useless, as most of them lend nowhere, their outlets beingeompletely choked up. Unless, therefore, taken in' hand at. once the whole drainage system of the mes tropalls will inevitably get into such a cundition as to be altogether beyond repair, necessitating a far greater expenditure than would now be required. It is most distressing to see the poor people thus deprived of their homes, camping out in the open in the lanes and bye-ways during the wet weather, and meniorialist conceives it to be part of his duty, in virtue of his office, to seek for some remedy for the present state of things, To enable the people to be properly housed the first requisite is to dispose of the accumulations of rain-water and for this purpose it is essential that the drains should be put in a state of proper repair. A far greater evil, however, and one much more to be apprehended than any more damage to the dwellings of the people, consists in the accumulations of filth from. the sewers which, swept broadcast over
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.