Tientsin, Oct. 20, The Famine Relief Distribution Board has inquired as to the situation from every mission station in Chihli, Shantung, Honan, Shansi and Shensi.
Up to the present detailed replies have been received from about 100 districts, and these show that 10,624,000 people are affected.
No replies have yet been received from Shensi and many other districts, and these are likely considerably to swell the total.
The Tsinanfu correspondent of the "Peking & Tientsin Times" states that at a cquservative estimate over 5,000,000 people western Shantung alone will need $2 monthly for five months in order to keep them alive.
He instances further definite cases, which: whole families have ce: mitted suicide. In one case a family of six members tied themselves and the family dog together and threw themselves into the Yellow River. All of them were drowned.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.