the river has fallen considerably Jduring the past few days, and the Jerulser twice ran aground on her way down to Woosung. She struck 'a sand bank soon afler leaving Hankow, but was floated off within a short time, Not long before she an-[chored on' Thursday, she ran on to another sand bank,' but within ten minutes she had slid off again without any damage being caused.
Tt was no small task to At up the cruiser, at the shortest possible notice, to accommodate the fy or jevacuces from Hankow. Every spare Bit of space on the ship was put good use. The officers moved out of their cabins to make way for the women passengers and their children, sleeping temporarily in. offices, store rooms, ete. 'The ward room was placed at the disposal of the passengers as a sitting room, while the captain's cabin was used' to accommodate an elderly invalid lady who declared that she "could not manage those steep ladders". Many of the cabins contained camp beds, and revealed hardly an inch of space to spare.
As is usual when the British Nav: plays the part of "knight errant, there wag nothing but praise for the arrangements made for the comfort fof the passengers. "The captain and officers were simply wonderful", was the expression heard on all. sides, and most of those who had enjoyed the privilege of a trip on a British man-of-war were genuinely sad the thought of leaving the kindly officers and men who had risen to the needs of the occasion according fo the best traditions of the British Navy.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.