A Lengthy Suspension and Serious Dislocation of Business From Our Own Correspondent.
Haichow, Sept. 4.
A trip just made lengthwise of north Kiangsu furnished some interesting materia] for reflexion. We are accustomed, having the launch service on the Grand Canal suspended in the summer because of the damage done to the dykes by the waters caused by the heavy barges. But this year the water is unusually low and the launches have been stopped for an unusual length of time and no one seems able to say when they will start agrin. The cause can be related by anyone along the banks of the 130 miles stretch between Chinkiang and Tsingkiangpu with that singular exactness and terseness that is so often the marvel of the foreigners.
About the first week ini August a, passenger on one of the launches refused to give that tip which the launch coolies demanded. The usual altercation ensued and one of the surly coolies gave the man a blow which carried him over the edge of the launch into deep water, where he was drowned. This was a small matier to the consciences of the coolie gang to whom the life of a passenger (after he has been bled or refused to be bled) is of less consequence than the gambling game just ahead, but the victim turned out to be a servant of the redoubtable Chang Chien 6f Nantangchow, who wields a powerful influence in these parts. Legal proceedings
Chang had political influence were at once apatites ce Mr. snowden to demand) that all traffic cease until a satisfactory damage claim should be awarded. There are several lines operating with a general agreement as to rates and schedules, but all suffered alike in the stoppage of their traffic. Mr. Chang knew perfectly: well that the only way to effect a speedy and just settlement was to maintain his embargo, which must mean a loss of $1,000 a day in receipts. So the service has been suspended nearly a month, the launches have been tied up to their jetties and a horde of clerks and coolies have been idle. The public has either stayed at home or endured tthe agony of slow boat travel under an August sun, with all the dislocation of its business that can be imagined.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.