From Our Own Correspondent.
Huaiking, Hun. Nov. 8.
Within the past days ample rain has fallen to assure a good start for the autumn sown wheat and barley. Grain prices have dropped about 10 per cent. Large quantities of grain are being marketed. Many of the debts carried over from the 1920—1921 famine period are now being paid. The interest on some of these debts is not a small matter. In many cases ib now takes ten bushel of grain to pay back one bushel borrowed during famine time.
A big autumn fair is being held to-day in the north suburb. Native home spun cloth is the main commodity for sale, also the cotton for making the added winter garments so much worn by Chinese in the north. Now for the first time since the famine the country people are able to afford new cloth and cotton for their winter garments. During the last two years they for the most part had to patch and make over old clothes, Quantities of furs are for sale but not many area purchased as because of the unsettled condition of the country no one wishes to appear wealthy. Foreign cloth, silks, and' furs are not in demand to the same extent they were formerly in_years of good harvest.
Trade with outside and. distant laces is to a great extent killed. This is due to banditry and other unsettled conditions. Traders have little or no security for either their money or their wares when they go far off to do business, and freight shipping is slow and subject to long delays. A short time ago a merchant said it often took two or three months to get goods shipped, from Hankow fo the north of the Yellow River.
About two weeks ago a good deal of uneasiness was felb among the people in the four hsiens of this district, Wen, Meng, Tsiyuan and Chin Yang. A' considerable number of bad characters were discovered to ba in league and doing secret service for bandits on the south 6f the Yellow River. Another raid was feared similar to that when Menghsien was loot-. ed. Such fears were not lessened when it was known that the rifles on loan to the local soldiers and police from the Military at Kaifeng were being withdrawn. No soldiers have yet arrived to fill up the ranks of those withdrawn from the military yamen here. This is the present situation—rifles and ammunition withdrawn and no protection afforded by the Chentai Yamen. However, conditions have remained peaceful and several measures have been taker by tha local authorities that help
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.