Anking, Dec. 28.
It has been difficult for people of this city to have a very good opinion of newspaper correspondents recently. It has been a month of untruth. The big scandal about the Sericultural School has not died down. The Tuchun has come out boldly and declared the whole thing "a barefaced lie." No one would think of challenging the Tuchun's knowledge of what a barefaced lie is. But a mere statement, even when accompanied by threats of all kinds of punish: ment, is not sufficient.
Tt may be a surprise to Nyi Tsze-chung that in spite of his long life of absolute veracity there are still those who want more than his word on the matter. We would rejoice to know that the whole thing was a lie, but meantime the following questions have to be answered What good would any one get by starting such a rumour?
Did the Tuchuy ever know a mere one-man rumour to gull so many people?
What brought Ma Lien-cha to Anking at that time?
What took Liu, the School principal, to Pengpu at that time?
Why did Liu not reply to the telegrams sent from another city with regard to the matter?
Is this Mr. Liu an adopted son of one of the Tuchun's concubines?
There are others but when these are answered, it may be enough. The next step is for the Tuchun to report that an exhaustive inquiry has been held. It is regrettable that the only newspaper in the city is that financed by the Tuchun. Thus it is difficult for public opinion to find proper expression here.
It was reported in the Shanghai native press (and also. copied in the N-C.D.N.) that there had been a big row between the police and students, resulting in a strike of the former.
The facts are as follows—A member of the Shengchang's bodyguard went to buy some cotton. He got it, and on weighing it himself, found that he was at least an ounce short per catty. He went back to the dealer's and made a fuss, feeling that the dealer had sold him, as well as the cotton. The dealer tried to explain to him that the catty in selling cotton. was never 16 ounces. But a member of the Shengchang's bodyguard is not easily convinced against his will. The dealer called the policeman near by to come along and_prove.his statements to be true. The policeman was surely an unfortunate choice, and the guardsman might be forgiven for
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.