Icharg, Sept. 15.
Twice since the beginning fo. September have we experienced a very high rise in the Yangtze which rose to over forty-one feet on the 13th, At such times minor accidents are of common occurence and the loss] of life, from sampans overturning' is often considerable.
On the afternoon September 12 an accident took place which resulted in the overturning and sinking of Messrs. Butterfield & Swire's tug Patung. Their str. Wantung, had being lying at anchor for several days while repairs, necessitated by her hitting a rock' on her last trip to Chungking, were carried out, These having been completed she weighed anchor to proceed to the lower end of the harbour. In swinging, however, the force of the current was so great that her propeller became entangled with the anchor chains of str. Siangtan and she became helpless. The latter ship have up her anchors and then the two ships, the Wantung resting on the port bow of the Siangtan, drifted down stream and narrowly' escaped, coming in contact with other vessels, anchored in the river. The Wantung was lying at and water was flowing so that it was a wonder that she did not go under. The tug Patung. was able to take a hawser from the Wantung but the strain was too much for her and she eventually keeled right over and sank with the loss of at least three lives. The two steamers ultimately came to rest alongside some cargo boats down by the Salt Gabelle godowns.
Great was the excitement in chang when the first aeroplane arrived here on the morning of the 18th. She flew right over the city before returning to the Standard Oil installation, where she eventually landed and' tied up to a buoy which has been anchored there for the purpose. Thousands have flocked down the river bank to inspect) the plane which, with a passenger, completed the journey from Hankow in two and a half hours. During her stay here a trip in her was nto the local military com: mander, General Ko Hsun, and to some American ladies at' present in port. For the present no flight further west will be made but it is! expected that a regular service will be in operation by the end of this! month, Foreign shipping on this stretch of the river is never long without interference of some kind from the Chinese acting through the local bureau of navigation. Recently. more cargo than usual has been offering from Chungking and the str. Kiawo has been carrying out. weekly sailings to and from Chungking. Silk and other merchandise including wood oil have been the:
cargoes. When the aforesaid port a week ago igation bureau of the west China shipping conference issued verbal instructions to labour' to refuse their services, but notice of such action was sent in ing to the owners of the steamer.
In due course ascertained that behind this action were erroneous instructions from Chungking which asserted that the Kiawo had loaded silk direct for Shanghai. The local bureau preferred to act on their instructions from Chungking rather than accept the offer to view the said cargo which had been landed into the godown and reshipped to Shanghai in the ordinary, way. The whole thing was apparently staged witha view to holdisg up the steamer until one flying the Chinese flag could be dispatched ahead of her so that a cargo of wood oil which was awaiting shipment at Chungking might be obtained. In one word "jealousy" may be said to be at tne root of tke trouble.
What happens when any famine rice has to be transported to a place like Shasi for instance? Foreign firms are inundated with re. quests to give a helping hand and never by any chance do they refuse. Much good work is done in thi but it is with practically no thanks; for, while these ships are thus engaged, of! tying: Chinese flag are busily engaged transporting valuable cargoes to
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.