There is very little news from this part of the world. Bandits are bad in the hills on the Anhui border and three heads were up on the bridge at Szean this morning. On the whole, however, their activities are] exaggerated: For instance, it is said there are 2,000 of them and that shortly they are going to at tack Hangchow (with pay from the] North).
Yesterday, 200 provincial troops were disarmed and replaced by! fresh troops at Szean, which place way protects the pass into Rumour has it that Hu] wre going to in which case this small troop movement may mean that Hu, who is in command at hangchow now, is making sure of his position first, Another rumour has it that Wang Ching-wei, at the] bead of the Communists, is going to take over Shanghai, but this is quite a backwater and the rumours come from Shanghai, so probably have been heard long ago.
Apart from these small numbers of provincial troops, there is no] sign of military activity. Business is bad, and people are afraid to! travel.' Silk and rice crops were good, but the prices are very low, and no one knows when some new tax may not be sprung upon the people,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.