Hongkong, 10th May.
After much expectation and many indications the rain has come at last, but the amount of it so far leaves very much to be desired, the recorded rainfall at she observatory up to 9th inst. being only 0.37 inch. Since then there have been some smart showers, abortive attempts at thunderstorms and skies black as Erebus and seemingly charged with immense stores of water. But it is all still to come, and save that the face of nature is brilliantly green and the atmosphere: nuggy in the extreme there is no addition to our water storage, and the struggle fur the precious liquid' still goes on,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.