This province is not forgotten by the speculators. Some time since a French engineer visited the mountains south of sian in the interest of a Paris mining syndicate, He took away with him, I am told, several specimens. More recently an-oliver continental gentleman paid a fying visit to Hsianfu. "We had no opportunity of calling on him, but understand that he came on railway' business—the Belgian Syndicate? Chinese evangelists just returned from Yenanfa in the North bring tidings of still another engineer who had come over from Shansi to examine the oil wells near that city. As he came properly furnished with credentials the officials could not but show the oil wells. But we have been assured that only a few of the inferior wells were shown him. The best and more humorous are kept in reserve. The Chinese report the existence of an ample supply in the district, but the pity is it runs to waste at present. In the face of these visits presumably in the interests of Continental countries, one is not only inclined to blame Lord Salisbury's indifference to spheres of influence, but also to think that the British merchant is not attracted by new fields, and lets golden opportunities pass by.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.