In the eastern part of this dis trict work has been commenced in the digging out of an old river bed, one of the upper reaches of the n Huai. The portion of this river, which is called by three different names in Honan, is somewhere about GO miles in length in this province. Grants of money have been given to Yung Cheng and Hsia Yi as well as to Kueiteh, as this river runs through all these three districts. Work on 1t has only been started in the Kueiteh district so far, and about 1,200 people are now at work digging, beginning from the MHsia Yi border and running up towards Ma Muh Chi on the Lunghai Railway.
At all times this district is a very poor one, owing to the dep-freda ions of robbers. The formation of the "White Tuft Spears" Society and the "Red Tuft Spears" Society has brought peace to the district so far as robbers are concerned the last skirmish there occurring in the spring before the heavy rains came, when a band of would-be kidnappers were—surrounded a band of White Tuft Spears" and wiped out com pletely.
The floods, however, have brought great distress, and it isbsaid he had sent an officer of his hoped that the digging out of this} river bed will prevent any flood-|''pulse of ing again in the near future.
Poor Pay Ber 'Prospects.'
It is not only the floods which keep the people in these parts poor, of course. An interesting side-light into some of the workings of affairs in China, was presented recently in this muh Chi, which is the largest chi in the Kueiteh prefecture; besides the garrison of the notorious I Chiin—Chang Kuei-ti's troops, there is the local militia of 30 or 40 strong. These men are given uniforms, or parts of uniforms, together with a rifle and numerous cartridges, and the munificent pay of 8 coppers a day. No food is provided, and no surprise being expressed at the smallness of wages paid, your correspondent was infan that it was because of their "good pros-acts." On inquiry it turned out that these "prospects" are what they can gouge out of the people when there is a lawsuit or other kind of disagreement.
In such cases these men are sent out in the same way as the runners from the yamen in the case of a Asien district, and wherever they go they demand road money—the sums varying according to the status of the victim. Naturally a man who is given a rifle and ammunition and told to support himself on eight coppers a day is not going to starve to death whilst others have means; therefore, one of these militia a few days ago, was captured by the White Tuft Spears Society while trying to corn his living a little more dishonestly than usual, by holding up a traveller on the road. He was brought into Kueiteh and executed and the Ma Muh militia disbanded.
Others have, of course, now been enlisted in their place: probably no better, and let us hope no worse.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.