One of the features of the present exodus from Shanghat fe the manner in which various raft in the harbour have been overcrowded by the refugees, Some of the vessels. plying uD fud down the coast have been loaded by human freight to such on extent that one ship leaving Shanghai on. Wednesday evening. actually had people perched on the beam which would support the awning on the top deck, while the Text the versal was 20 packed that had anything happened {o her major entastrophe must have been the inevitable result. The same may ald. of many of the launches. plying inthe arbour which have been so overcrowded that passengers have been unable to find space on the Ueoke and have clung on as best they could, with precarious foothold on the rubbing sirake. Much allowance has to be made because of the limes through which Shanghai Is at present pass-Ing. and it is perhaps inevitable that conditions such'as this should prevail on the harbour, but t's a matter for comment that in more peace {ul times a" certain, amount. of overcrowding fakes place, which is emphasized. by what 5 happening tov, Immediate precautions against a serious nceldent may be diMieult to take, faving in view all the elreumstances, especially
they could be passed, would be a matier of very the enforcement of any regulations, even i Considerable dimeulty. in. view of the feelings of those who ave thus endeavouring to fee from the trouble which they think Is to come, but if the suthoritles prone by present experiences, ud, when opportunity offers, introduce regula: ions to prevent this most dangerous practice, the sad? object lessons which may be seen daily {rom the Bund wil not entirely have lost their value.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.