Peking, Sept. 1.
An earthquake and a disastrous hail storm and flood are reported from the distant destitute recesses of Kansu Province by Mr. G. Findlay Andrew, writing from Lanchow, Kansu, where he is taking charge of famine preventive Inbour relief projects for the China International Famine Relief Commission.
Tt is but two weeks ago that I stated that the great famine of Kansu might be written off as a thing of the past, for the splendid prospects for the coming autumn expos led one to believe that there soon would be a plentiful supply of {food within the province," he writes under date of July 26, "Falling prices confirmed thi continues. "And now, whereas, most districts the outlook remains unchanged, yet in certain areas the people have been brought right down to the very depths of despair all in a few short hours. The scanty summer crops which were almost within reach of the sickle, and the sprouting autumn grain, were totally destroyed by' hail, the like of which has not been known in these parts within the memory of living man, In other places a violent rainstorm caused floods which in like manner destroyed the crops.
"The bridge at Kan Tsao Tien, built by the relief workers last year, was destroyed by the torrent that came down the river. I was formed that large blocks of ice had come down the river, and on investigation I found a piece 93 by The trying spell was from June 30 to July 30, for in those thirty-_ tone days the thermometer' was only Jdown to 90 degrees twice, and on nine days it reached 100 degrees or 101 Jdegrees. There was a recurrence of this great heat from August 7 to 19, and during those thirteen days the temperature only once went down to }92 degrees in the daytime and the maximum was again 101 degrees The minimum temperatures all through the summer have been comparatively high, and as usual the breeze which has given a little relief in the daytime has died away at sunset, The record on the watermark at the Customs House passed 20 ft. for the first time this summer on June 8, and was only below that figure on seven days between that date and the end of August. The 40ft. mark was reached on June 24, after which there was a steady rise to 43.8 ft. on July 1, and than a drop from one to five tenths a day
risen again to 33ft, on August 8 the end of the month, It had and has not been below that figure since, Though there has not been any serious outbreak of sickness among foreigners this summer, and though the Chinese city has been combat tively free from cholera and other such hot-weather complaints, there has been a serious outbreak of cattle-disease in the country districts round Wuchang. When it first made its appearance the farmers killed the infected cattle and took the meat to the butchers, but the number of cases has recently been so large that the farmers after in, and thi after the ice had ski been thawing and melting all night! jeareases. Cases have occurred ming the cattle have buried the "Needless to say, the roads stiffer-where beggars have insisted very much and washouts were numerous. On the far side of the fed sequently died cating away some, of the meat Jand have subsequent mountain at a place called Chen Keo Th where I was travelling we found A well-dressed youth entered the id [the descent of the mountain impos~ shop of a dealer in gold bangles on sible for curts and therefore had to the Minseng Road on Monday even-retrace our steps and take a longer ing and producing a roll of notes route which added well over 10 miles to our journey that day. asked to see some really good bangles. "He was shown a pair worth "The bridge at Chen Keo Ili, 200 and agreed to buy them, While which had been there over 20 years the shopkeeper was making out the to my knowledge. had been destroy-sual form giving the weight and ed by the storm. But sadder than marks, the youth suddenly grabbed all this was to see the poor farmers the bangles and bolted into the wandering about simply dazed at the realization of the sudden dis-street. Though he was in foreign peso wed to make his dress he managed is aster which had come upon them.
Just at the very moment when it seemed as though there was every likelihood that their acute sufferings
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.