Considerable traffic is being carried on with Yunnan and the' business men are receiving their goods safely by that route. They have to pay long sums to the gentlemen who sce to' it that the. goods do not suffer en route and in conversation with a man of business two days ago. Li was' astounded to learn they pay something like $1,000 on-a shipment of goods worth $10,000, or in other words they pay in the region of 10 per cent. for insurance ¢2).
Those who have friends and re~ natives in Japan have been greatly,; concerned as to their welfare as; there is a report going round that the cities of Tokyo and Yokohama. have both disappeared through a tremendous earthquake.
Some inquiries at the telegraph office revealed the fact that no such news had come by telegram, and the foreigners in the city have-, not received any such word,. andj.: the Shanghai papers do not report; such an awful catastrophe so the anxious ones are gradually coming to hope that there was some mi: take in the report. 4 The farmers were rejoicing ideal weath for the gathering. in: of the rice when the weather broke. and we have had several days heavy rains.
They say the rice in the fields is being laid flat and is in danger of sprouting through being soaked in 2 the water, and that already gat hered is in danger of spoiling because it is not yet dry enough to store away in the granaries. Moreover numbers of mon are being taken off by the soldiers and the labour is a greater problem than before:
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.