Regarding other baneful fluences at work my friend told me a story, the accuracy of which he vouches for and which I cannot do better than relate. A young man, whose Connexions are fairly rich, was attacked in the street recently and rendered insensible. He was taken to Peking. He was kept prisoner in a house there for some time and made to sign a letter to his relatives asking them to pay ransom money. Some time later he was fortunate enough to make his escape and returned to Shanghai. But he prefers—and_ there are, unfortunately, many Chinese who reason on the same lines—to make no.complaint or report on the matter for fear it would lead ta further molestation.
The trend of general observation—one is inclined to fear—is somewhat strongly in support of many of his statements. How to remedy the situation is obviously a difficult problem. But is certainly one in which the ce-operation of the Chinese is vitally important.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.