The French National Tauri Office has been having a positive orgy of statistics. Last year, 222,000 Americans visited France, and spent, jon an average exchange of Frs. 22 to the dollar (but this average is well below the reality), about five thousand million francs. Even if what they bought was cheap to them, and there is no reason to suppose that the vendors took less than they could reasonably or even unreasonable get, this is a comfortable sum to be flowing into the pockets of a Jcentury 80 anxious about its finances that a suggestion has been seriously made involving the sacrifice of the nation's gold wedding-rings towards the salvation of the franc, which at the best, would produce' less than eight hundred million franes worth of gold.
Besides the Americans, there were well over a quarter of a million English visitors (a considerable advance on previous recorded numbers). Spain sent nearly seven hundred thousand citizens into France, though some of them came by the humbler tramway. It is difficult. for us, who are Islanders to conceive that people run backwards and forwards across international frontiers in 4d. cars every day. Northern countries, and Switzerland, sent under fifty thousand tourists each, but after all, they all Drought valuable money' into the country, and few of them took much of it out. By the way, it seems odd that most of the present anti-foreign feeling in France is ostensibly directed against all high exchange countries, but actually against those high exchange countries which fought with France. There resentment against the Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish for Swiss visitors who from 1914- 1918 enjoyed all the benefits of neutrality.
New Lights on One of the chief items in which Jexpenses are going wp in this country outside the thirteen basic necessities life (covering nourishment, light, heat, shelter and clothing), is communication by post. As for railway fares, I dare hardly tell you the fantastic figures to which they have reached, but if 1 wanted to tell you 190, even on a post-card, it would now cost 00 centimes. Picture post card printers are in despair, think-ting that the tourist will not want [to spend seventy-five centimes on leven the most ordinary postcard, lev alone the more expensive kinds, anil that still Jess will the thrifty French, correspondent. put forty centimes of Government stamp upon a postcard, when a whole letter can go for fitty. In 1914, when the foreign postage for fast-cards was fifteen centimes, and the inland five, 400 millie" picture post-cards were sold in France. In the last year, less than half this number has been des patched. The _picture-post-ord people are wondering how far the new rates are going to spell disaster for them.
A Problem for Tax Collectors has arisen in regard taxes which is very amusing for all but collectors. The Treasury has demanded that all the one and two centime pieces in existence shall be returned to be melted down for flying—the electric light plant was out of commission for some time, thousands of trees of all sizes were uprooted in Yangtzepoo and the Western distriet—flag poles came down—Ford cars were overturned—many Chinese on the river, were drowned—and those who experienced the full force of that terrible wind will probably never forget it. Then I remember that famous unheralded typhoon la] Hongkong—was that in the year 1906, and am I growing so old?-~! when the harbour was practieala bubbling cauldron, with hundreds of Chinese boats upturned and their occupants. strug-' gling helplessly in the roaring! waters. Steamers of all sizes! were' swept from: their anchorages and drifted in a terrific maze utterly helpless, so that collisions were responsible in five minutes for more damage that the Colony rail. Awnings were ripped to threads. Tron stanchions, those solid pillars to which the ropes are attached when she is being tied to the wharf, were literally broken off by the force of the wind. In five minutes time there was searcely a foot of raillings around the deck. Boats were carried away, and much of the massive deck work crumpled fike reds. And as for the sea it rose as if by magic to a height that, as we steamed along, the great waves came over the fannel.
So that unless a person has hail experience of these fearful storm:
eanmot visualize their effect, no matter how vivid the description might be. The sad part of it is that their effect falls upon rich ant poor alike. A sad sidelight this Florida storm was that 200 Tittle children, separated from their mothers, wandered aimlessly ant a new southern Floride built again, for the real estate men may be relied upon to "get busy."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.