Fxom Our Own Comnesroxnent Liuchow, Jan. 9.
Ever since the establishment of the Republic road-making in China has become a lost art. Under the old Manchu regime it was necessary, as least, once a year to repair the main' arteries of travel 20 that the officials travelling from tone centre to another might not: be hindered in their. journeys. During the past 15 years, however, this annul repair work has not been thought necessary and, as a result of this long neglect the roads throughout the province have fallen into a deplorable state. In spite of civil wars and anti-foreign agitation, however, the past months have seen a marked improvement along this line. The city of Wuchow has undergone a wonderful transformation. City streets have been widened, cement sidewalks Inid down, a sewerage system established, while over the hills at the rear of the city numerous roads have been cut. These roads are wide enough to admit an auto running over them, and while they. are still in the formative state still the work is still going on and time may yet see a model city with all accompaniments of progress and enlightennient.
In the northern part of the province steps have also been takea to. open highways connecting larg and important centres with each other. A large motor rond is now under construction between Liuchow and Shih-Lung. The former is the terminus for the Wuchow launch traffic, "and the latter is a town on the banks of the les below the city. During the winter months some of the heavier launches cannot proseed further that Shih-Lung on ae-count of the shallowness of the river and it is now planned to open this motor rond so that pose sengers and freight may be tran ferred quickly from one point to the other. Already several companies of men are working on different sections of the road. Each company is composed of about 100 men, The road is to be about 30 feet wide and is being graded, thus making a practically level road all the way from Liuchow down to Shih-Lung.
Funds for this work are being secured by local subscriptions. Each person living along the route 18 compelled to subscribe six days work, or a sum of money sufficient to engage a man to take his place, Thus the cost of making the road guaranteed, and its upkeep wilt doubtless also be a matter of minor importance.
In other sections of the province similar plans are under way. The of Kueilin, the ancient procapital, is to be connected with Hunan, and the road leading from Nanning to Pingyang which started some years ago, but which was discontinued on account of civil strife, is now being pushed forward to' completion.
If the province would settle down to a few years of quietness one could reasonably expect to see wonderful changes along the line of intereommunication, and the bandits who now terrorize some districts and diminish travel and trade would then be forced to move their headquarters to some less frequented section of the province, In the course of an_ interview, Gen. Chiang Kai-shek, Commander of the "Reds" in Canton, sai he is devoting his time to the provement of the Whampoa Military Academy before he can star on the northern expedition.
Miss Aiko Fukaya, the 18-year old Japanese girl who took a pistol out of her foreign clothes fand shot Mr. Rieci, an Italian resident of Tokyo, last autumn in a deserted building of the Italian Embassy, faced the first public hearing of the sensational case on January 22, at the Tokyo Local Court. Hundreds sought admission to the courtroom Lut only 150 were granted admission cards. It is binted that there will be further picturesque disclosures in the case.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.