An embargo has been declared on' the use of silver. The silver is required for sending to Hankow, where it is said it will be used to pay the troops. Othera say that the Hankow labour leaders and agitators feel their time is short and they are collecting the silver for their own use, lining their pockets while the going still is good. 'The merchants' books are examined and their houses searched and, if silver fs found, it is taken from them and they are offered paper notes in exchange. These provisional notes of the Central Bank are useless for buying drafts on Shanghai and should, for instance, Chiang Kaishek re-occupy Kiukiang, they immediately would become valueless.
Silver has disappeared from the' streets, as those who still have any. Toft conceal it, The punishment for those who refuse paper money is heavy. A small money shop, the other day, refused to cash some notes for silver, the manager wa dragged off to the magistrate a the whole of his ai such conditions business is impossible and nearly all shops are closed.
The steamers for Shanghai are packed with the wealthy escaping from the persecution that awaits them. These wealthy Chinese now find it cheaper te travel Ist class foreign, as the ship's boys and compradores "squeeze" them so] unmercifully if they travel 1st class) Chinese. In one recent instance, Chinese merchant had to pay $200) "squeeze" on a British steamer to) the ship's boys for room on a Journey from Hankow to Shanghai, Though, he possessed a ist class double the 1st class foreign fare and so no wonder the foreign accommodation is so popular, in some cases to the exclusion of foreigners.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.