Peking, May 17.
During his trip he has inspected provinces of Shensi, Kansu, Ninghai and Chinghai, for the purpose of investigating communications and health Improvement in these remote but important sections of the Republic of China, The journey has been a hard one. Mr. Soong, being determined to accomplish a much as possible within limited time, insisted upon intensive travelling, often starting out at 4 O'elock in the morning and. riding horse-back for more than 50 miles a day. In the course of his journey, Mr. Soong travelled through the famous grass lands and also visited Lake Kokonor, the only lake in the world situated at an altitude of 10,500 feet above sea level. This lake will probably play an important role. any future plang for the development that part of the country. The district Is now more or les a desert owing to the continuous cutting down of trees for fuel during many con-turies,. With the assistance of irrigation from underground rivers, {tis quite probable not only. that' much Yand can be made available for graze ug purposes, but that land may event= ually be brought into cultivation. years to come it is probable that the istrict may become important as providing food and wool for the rest of China, Mr. Sons's party received a warm welcome from the people of these remote provinces. "He is the frst high official of the Central Government who has visited this part of the country since the establishment of the Republie—Reuter, Mr. Soong said the opium evil among the non-Mohammedans of the North-west was ten times greater than that among the Chinese of the Yangtze Valley. During his visit 10 INingshia, he visited two villages, one Jot which was inhabited by" Mohammedans and the other, by Hans (non-Mohammedans). 'The Mobammedans were not opium-sddiets and their villages was rich, while the condition in the Hans' village, where the' opium evil was very geal, was Dealing with the monetary system in the North-west, Mr. Soong told his interviewers that it was true that it was confused, but said he did not expect any great difficulties in connection with its readjustment because
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.