"To the Editor of the *NortH-Cuina Dairy News."
Sin,—With reference to the threat issued by the Sun' Yat-sen Administration to convert Canton into a free port if the Customs receipts are not turned over to them, and Sun Yat-sen's recent despatches expressing his "indignation" against the election of Tsao Kun, together with his declared intention of leading a puntive expedition against the North, these can only be tnter-preted as poor jokes.
I have recently returned from a visit to the South, and I can say this much. that not in recent times has such a drlidcle of maladministration been witnessed in China as has been sweeping Canton during the past six months. Business in Hongkong is consequently at a standstill, and some of the foreign firms that have branches in Canton are beginning to close them up. In_ this connexion, T might add that I have just ordered my branch to cease operations because taxation, piracy. robbery and government seizures have destroyed the very foundations of credit.
Conditions in the North, bad a they are, are infinitely better than
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