New. Year Starts Well From Oun Own Contesronoent swatow, Feb, 16.
The s, Haining, of the Douglas, 'Steamship Company, which ran on the sand (or mud) on the west end Jof Double Island when on her way' ing of, the Srd, was, after several unavailing' fatiempts, successfully towed off by, the Henry Keswick tug from Hongkong ona high tide on the 13th, She\ appears Jp be none the worse For her unfortunate experience, By extraordinary luck, she just missed rocks on both sides, and ran up on. soft ground, so that her hull suifered little or ho damage, 'There is no indication these days that China New Year has been su-! Ril over the erseded. Shops have been closed own for three days, and has' been. a most refreshing ict and restfulness in the streets turn of the year. has. been! rounded without. any. resounding in banking or big business, such as were feared in many quar ters, "There were disturbing ru-Jmours about some banks, but steps were taken to buttress them up in lorder to prevent a widespread land-
Jemergency measures which have slide. "This is to the credit of the Seen taken during recent months by' the banking interests here, with the Joo-operation of the Canton Government, which included what practi-leally amounted to a moratorium on the usual year-end settlement of ae. counts. The ultimate success of these measures will depend upon aaj learly passing of the present deep business depression; failing that, the crisis will not be " indefinitely: post iponed. Ie is, perhaps, a. sign snd that the worst is over and that there is now a demand for labour from Singapore and the Straits, for it was from these parts that the' depression spread over here.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.