The excessive rains reported from South China which have led to the fooding of six districts on the upper reaches of the East River, and a dangerous threat to Canton, have proved a blessing to Hongkong. Ar 2 result of the downpour over the weekend before last it was reported in the Hongkong newspapers that in four days no less than fourteen inches hed fallen, removing all danger of a water famine this year, as the Tytam Tuk reservoir had been filled to overflowing. The news-Paper which recorded the fact added plaintively that there was no indication then of a change in the weather. Shanghai would willingly take over a little of the rain which Hongkong finds in excess of its requirements, for the little relief which has been experienced in this area has not made up for all the dry weeks which went before and which seem to be bent on continuing now. How bad conditions have become is evidenced by the use of the big pump." supplied by the Shanghai Waterworks Company to. pump water from the Chientang into the adjacent fields, parched under a re-leafless sun for some weeks. But it there is any beneficial lesson bbe learned from the present drought, it is the readiness with which Sino-foreign cooperation can combine in mes of necessity for the purpose of taking relief to areas where it is 50 necessary. squadrons, which is in the neighbour hood of 320 machines. The only explanation vouchsafed for this large fighting fleet is that the air force rendered great assistance in the operations against the Communists on the Kiangsi-Kwangtung border, although it is a fact that several years of military operations have failed to suppress or even cripple the menace. In the matter of numbers the joint air forces of China are assuming a fairly formidable size which makes other nations' fon paper, not so extremely With Canton aiming at $20 machines and the Nanking programme aiming 300 machines, all of the latest type, there will shortly existence a combined air force Which might "alter strategical considerations in the Far East and will certainly cause misgiving as far as tone neighbouring country is concerned.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.