On the morning of the 23rd there was another destructive fire here, only a stone's throw from the last blaze. It was in the centre of the busiest part of the city, a place, moreover, where there are several kerosene oil godowns. The Bank of China is also close by there. All valuables were immediately deposited in safes and preparations made for fighting the flames. I also noticed that all doors were closed when I passed that way.
Many times have the City Fathers tried to remove all those oil godowns outside the city, but os far they have failed to do so. One fails to see why the owners themselves are not more anxious to have such valuable and inflammable goods put beyond the reach of fires. For these godowns are packed together in a very few streets and if one went up, it would take great work to save' the others.
The Socony with their usual foresight have now a tank with suitable houses on the river bank 'a little way from the city. I heard on all hands, as I passed down to where the fire was, great praise for the way in which the Northern men grappled with the situation and prevented the fire from spreading to other streets. I am pleased to record this. We here are indeed blessed with good soldiers compared with some other parts.
Srepents ox Trerr Kvees.
On Xmas day at noon a large demonstration of students took place here on the drill ground, where it is said over 1,000 of them were present. They had taken the precaution to invite the newly-elected President of the Chamber of Commerce, who attended with many other merchants. There were speeches against Japanese products, and the enforcing of the boycott, also the rehearsal of the incidents at Foochow, after which the students besought the President of the Chamber of Commerce for his permission to search all shops and to confiscate all goods of Japanese origin. This put him in a very difficult position as he had only the previous day taken the seals of office. He tried to put the students off with nice phrases,' but they insisted on having the permit there and then. The whole lot fell on their knees and as many as possible got hold of his clothes and feet and begged him to give way. The situation was eased by the Vice-President who asked for three days' grace. This was granted, but. T hear there is soon to be a general strike of all schools.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.