One was met everywhere by the usual' complaints about high taxa-ion, though this applies less to the land tax. which is. very light in Shensi, as under the circumstances it' may well be—than to a heavy tax gu qooas of every description ente ing the provinces, called te pick shui, which, of course, is merely likin
our old friend lo ti' alum (Destin undes' another nane, not to mention tion Tax), These taxes greatly increase the cost of living for the already hard-pressed population, In the whole of the morth the sail ery poor '(apart from drought), Whlist"in the south, the richest part the province, where wood-all and timber one produced, the great de~ pression on the Hankow market has Dractially stopped all export, so that {ke popdiation fens the taxes. all the Harder these oxy.
Bad currency, as in other pro: vinces, due partly to the unregulated Drovincial notes, is another Rindranes to trade, The Shensi silver Gollar which used to be issued locally stands at about 6 per cent. discount; But the mint has clowed up altogether since Fast year, Absence of Minerals Another great handicap to the development of the province is the absence of minerals, especially coal Cent of a very inferior—quality brought all the way from near Tung-kuan costs nearly $4 per picul de-fay whilst even char: oni, which is. the chief means of costs $4.50. per picul. The fe'ip much milder than in the fand good in Sianta, coal Was, also given me a why no electri light stati Installed in the ity. and also why there were no factories of any kind whatsoever. here are actually two leon siderable coalfields in the pro-Vince: one at Hancheng, opposite the Janetion of the Fen and Yellow rivers, and the other at' Tungkuan (not the Tungkuan) directly north \of Sianfu. But here again the ques-fon of means of communication the difficulty.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.