Wor some reason the cigarette habit. has not been very. common in this part of the country. Knowing this, one of the foreign employees of the B. A. T. spent quite some time here last autumn to foster trade. Judging by the number of shops and stands which j Started to sell cigarettes after his} visit, he was very successful. Seeing their elders, and especially, the soldiers, smoking cigarettes, the children soon acquired the habit and it was not uncommon to see them walking the streets with lighted cigarettes in their mouths. Some of the leading citizens, see-! ing the hold the habit was taking upon the people, called a public meeting to discuss ways and means to check the habit. The mayor, the chief military official, the chairman of the Chamber of Oommerce, the chairman of the City Council, the heads of schools, and other public officials "and prominent citizens showed their interest in the matter by attending the meeting. An Anti-Cigarette Society was organized, the mayor and other prominent men accepting office in it. Contributions for the Society have been made and its good work seems to have taken! effect. The local B. A. 'T. agent admits a'75 per cent. loss in business. Colone] Wang has forbidden his soldiers to smoke cigarettes; and their use by students is also prohibited by the heads of schools. The students have taken 4 lively j interest in the work of the Society! and have become members en masse. They are planning to make public speeches on the city streets and out in the country against the use of the cigarette.
The threatening famine conditions have been averted. This part; of the ¢ountry being very moun-! famous, the rice*crop is not sufficient for local consump ion. Large quantities are brought up river. Owing to the lack of rice in the north, Wu Pei-fu bought large quantities of Hunan rice, which forced the price up and resulted in very little being shipped, up river to this southeastern part of the province. It is said that} the Famine Relief Committee Changsha' requested Wu Pei-fu not to take any more rice out of the province; and it is rumoured locally that a lot of the rice which Wu Peifu bought was spoiled when it reached its destination. Whether or not that be true, the fact remains that regular quantities are coming up river. This, together with the quantities of locally grown rice which had evidently been hoarded and held for higher ~pvices and which are now being
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.