Contests previously had been held all the Schools, "to choose' th speakers; and much interest was aroused, as was evidenced by the crowd of more than 00 which turned out to listen to the speeches. Each speaker was limited to eight minutes time, and was marked mainly on the basis of pronunciation and delivery. It is interesting to note that the prize-winning speech was on the subject of teamwork.
On Tuesday, the day before Christmas, Changsha was visited by. its frst snowstorm of tke season. Snow fell heavily during the whole day. bhut only succeeded in covering the ground because it melted so. quickly. Tt helped at east to give the spirit of a white Christmas to those who were celebrating the holiday here.
The Siang River is unusually high for this time of year, and it is still possible for steamers to ply between hankow and Changsha, although the trafic on the river usually stops early In. November.
Gov. Ho Chien has just left Changska for Paoking in the west, in order to supervise personally the' activities of the Government troops against the Redg in that area. He is planning to be back in the city for New Year's Day, when he will entertain the foreign community, as ts his custom, at tke Peoples' Club. An exhibition Chinese boxing is planned, and several Mongolian wrestlers are ex: pected fo add to the show.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.