"Important Waterway Robbed Its Commerce by -Civil War Nanking, May 7. me "Yangtze, usually 10" crowded Dewulate and bate of shipping is
ith eargoreneviersthat_never for Years. past has it been for ole Without all, Bot elyil war has Fobbed ie of a commerce, "The city of Nanking lock desertedt "The" farmer and his buffalo fre nowhere to be seen." Foreign "ships, in groups of five oF sissy pose during' the day' under cover frunbont convoy. "Occasionally "a shot tings on and @ tasted tou passengers drop behind the std pater which. line the deck. rails, Butsthe ship has not been attacked, Chinese soldier, bored with the monotony and dullness of the "Mtagnant avar, has merely fired at the vessel. He hnd not intended to ink the boat with his rifle. What Sis his vite for if he cannot. shoot with it? And the enemy is far nway—aeross the river at Pukow—while the foreign ship is quite close and a beautiful target.
'A few more shots ring out and the gunboat drops astern ready for notion, But evidently the braves Whind the walls of Nanking are prepared for this, for not x further sound ix heard, and not a soul ig) now to be seen, The ships pass Ships anchor in midstream above Nanking and no one ventures a shove. They stop at three other points on the river—at Kiukiang, Wuhu andi Chinkiang. At Kiukiany Jozens of sampans crowd the ship's wide, while there ave only enough passengers disembarking for two ur three of them. They pile over enclr other. Coolies fight their way eros the floating shelly endeavour to climb aboard the ship.
becomes increasingly impossible "to keep them off in' spite of the barbed wire protection surrounding: the lower deck, Finally the moval sonard opens up with a fireshoxe, Dampened Ardour A stream of cold water shoots out ackons the -mase of sampans,—not strong enough to dislodge their occupants, but sufficiently plentiful to give them a good wetting down. They shout at the ycuwrds who handle the have, and heave pieces coal and chunks of wood at them, hut xeadually shift their bare to point clear of the ship, and finally pull back to the she The mull boat comes alongside. A ig nothing but a sampan, 50 heavily landed with sacks that they hang far over the edge and weigh the slight craft well down into the water. A heavy current is running, and two sampans with the mail dis tributed between them might have afforded some degree or safety in transportation. But why should they worry about wet mally in time of war Wuhu is the drill ground of 1,000 troops. Up at five in the morning they go. through -their manual arms and setting up exercises. They parade in review before two large platforms in the centre of the field; sevavely attempt the loose-step; and finally, before retiring, draw up company formation abreast the platforms and are lectured on the pvineiples of the Kuomintang.
These men are of. the 7th Army, ehavdy: fighters from Kuangsi and southern Kuangtung, and it is said in Wuhu that a further 9,000 are in the immediate territory. They intend to advance overland in an attack upon Hankow, say officers, but they donot know how soon. They are under the orders of General Chiang Kai-shek and are awaiting his instructions.
Recruiting agents are busy throughout the interior there, but their efforts are not crowned with any degree of success. The farmer has hie rice in the ground and tells them fo come back after harvest and he might think about it. The elie calculates he can do about. fas well in civilian life, in spite of the $10 @ month offered by the army from which $6 are deducted for fool).
The Convoying Ships Nanking, recently turbulent, is: jet to-day. At anchor ride H.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.