Wusueh and neighbourhood have passed a restless and disturbed summer, but so far have escaped any trouble on a large scale. During July some 20,000 soldiers arrived at Wusueh. A_ very large number of these were Chang Ching-yao's ruffians. Before the arrival of these men, however, the Governor of Hupeh sent a large body of his own to prepare for these unwelcome visitors, and to_prevent them doing mischief. There was much apprehension amongst the people, but nothing serious happened. Very soon large num. bers of men were disbanded, and of the remainder, many were distributed amongst the adjoining towns, so that now there are only about 3,000 men left. in Wusueh. and these seem fairly well behaved, Retwrorcine THe Banpits, It is from the disbanded men that the main trouble comes, and that trouble is generally in the small hamlets and isolated farmsteads scattered round the country. These disbanded soldiers join in with local robbers and make the strong bands of armed men that terrorize the countryside. One such hand visited Ts'aochiaho, a busy street near Kuangtsi. They demanded a large sum of _uioney, and piled straw and kerosene against the doors of some of the shops, threatening to burn the place if their demands were not met. One shopkeeper bolted into the Mission Chapel. The robbers came in after him, and fired rifles in the chapel itself to scare him. Needless to say they got their money. These attacks g§ on ~continually, and what with the regular soldiers demanding money to make up for their own tack of pay, and these' disbanded men formed into gangs for oppression, the people are having a very ba: time.
As a mark of appreciation of the regular soldiers, the Trade Guilds of both Wusueh and Kuangtsi recently gave a large bounty to the men stationed in these cities. Pork, flour, soap, towels, and other presents were lavishly distributed, and it is hoped these good relationships between soldiers and people may be uiaintained. All the same, underneath is a perpetual fear and disquiet, for the soldier in China to-day is rarely anything but a source of trouble.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.