The state of the country round about varies very widely in the different countries. In this Kwangeh'ihsien the lands near the river are now free from flood water, and the farmers will have crops of potatoes, millet, and maize. In some of the districts inland the water has not yet subsided and the people, will ruler scutely this winter. hear that the Rev. E. F. P. Scholes has started relief work for the poorer Christians. In Hwangmeihsien the distress is terrible. We are not able to reach that region in our work, but I think that if the need were realised in Kiukiang something could be done from thence to relieve it. The water was from five to ten feet deep over most of the county, and the waves destroyed most of the buildings. In some eases even the embankments on which the houses stood are nearly washed away. The mud-brick walls have dissolved in the water and whole hamlets are in rui Proceeding up river we come to in which county the damage has not great. The cotton, maize, millet, and find i high and the fields have nct been tatees are for the most part safe, as the
flooded. The people will have money from the cotton and food from the potato fields. The people in the town are perhaps the worst sufferers, for the water is even now standing in some streets, and in those parts the tradesfolk never sce a customer. Crossing the river to Hsinkuo county T found that the distress was widespread. As a matter of fact it is so severe that mandarin, on hearing that T was coming, sent a letter asking me to leave the work to my Chinese helpers for the present ax he feared that the beggars might insult me. His letter failed to reach me, and xo T visited the town. The damage is indeed severe. The North gate is aln in ruins, and the great wall of the Exa ation Halls is down, In the country there is will much stagnant flood water, snd the potato crop on the high lands wil' be, poor because of the drought. The rain that is falling to-day will relieve this. In this county the people live on potatoes for about eight. months in the year, so that their anxiety for rain was intense. The next county above Hsinkuo, Tayehsien, shows practically no traces of the damage done by the floods. I have traversed it from end to end and found that, sive for about five miles frum the river bank inland, all was in order. Wheat, barley and rice have been heavy and_the cotton crop promiss to be the best for years. Even in the parts near the river there is little distress for the fruit crop has been heavy and this has not been affected by the floods. The last county that I have visited is the Wuchanghsien—which is not the Hsien in which the provincial capital is situated—and there, too, Ido not think that the people will sutler from want of food in the autumn. The price of rice has risen, but the potatoes are being gathered and so the farmers do not need rice. Of course they will miss the money that they would have got for the sale of potatoes, and the town's folk will miss the cheap' potatoes. The damage in the town was heavy. The handsome river gate is in ruins and all through the town—it is over two English miles long—there were signs that the water and hig! winds had caused great-loss to property owners. I heard that at Chinniu, the trading town on the Liangiu Lake, the price of rice was very high, and that the people there are in danger of famine as the Focal crops are destroyed and it is difficult to purchase rice." Ab most of the towns through which Thave the authorities have forbidden the sale of rice to people from other parts and it is difficult to buy more than enough for two meals at one time.
Is a Universal Currency Possible?
Our enlightened Viceroy some years ago issued cash-bills which "were intended to be current throughout the pro-e. The native banks resisted the innovation by giving the required 1,000 cash per bill, but including in each hundred a large number of bad cash. The bills were successfully counterfeited, and the Viceroy had to recall the genuine ones. Early this year, finding that the new issue was not being taken' up readily, be ordered the pawn-shops to each take a certain number and hoped thus to put them into circulation. 1 applied recently to a pawn-shop to sell -mo some and learnt that they had none. Pressing the question bow that was Twas informed that the owner received his allotted number from the Deputy, and the nest week sent a man up to Wuchang, changed the lot for copper cash, sold the cash for silver and brought that down! It really looks as if the bills were to fail a second time to find acceptance with the commercial people.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.