Though two freight ears of Christ~ mas trees were brought to Harbin. Just in time for the old style holidays, soon became apparent that the quantity was far from sufficient and th consequence many families had to go without a tree. A decent looking tree could not be purchased below $15. and the smallest branches were sold at $2 if they bore some resem~ Dianee to a tree. An innovation in Christmas was that Tschurin's _advertisement that their live Santa Claus would bring toys purchased at their stores {0 any private house. It also brought more customers Techutin's, so that the firm scored doubly through their new scheme.
Siberian Passenger raffle Whether it is that the fear of travelling through the Suez Canal has passed, or because of the severe cold in Siberia, the number of transit Passengers has dropped. After Feb-Fuary I, third class fares on the expresses in Manchoukuo" are Fedueed greatly and travelling by the Asia express from Dairen to. Harbin jg ust as comfortable In the third as ili the first class, excepting that in the latter there is an observation ear, For local people it will be very cheap to run up and down and business men are sure to travel much more frequently. The fares across Siberia also are much lower and, therefore, there should be a rush ware fx the Spring when so many go home to Europe on leave.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.