The "brain trust" of the Reds has been beaten by the grey-matter at Government field headquarters, and Chu Teh's troopers have discovered that they ran into a net in. getting Into the market-town, Lung Lei. To draw the regulars away from Kwel-yang the whole rebel outfit went on march towards the east on April 4, but on April 8 20,090 were back. In Lung Lei, 701i from the Kweichow capital.
General Chiang Kai-shek had most. of the government troops move away from Kweiyang as if to strengthen the defences on the eastern front. Some distance from Kweiyang they. were halted so that as soon as Lung Lal. was occupied they sprang back to tls sector, and guns and sireraft bombs are levelling the walls of the town, with this, 20,000 reds The root of a small temple in Amoy was struck by lightning but for~ tunately no one was Injured and no other serious damage has been reported, On April 1, the inauguration cere. many of Mr. Wang Kuo-puan Mayor of the City of Amoy took place at the Bureau of Public Safely Ju the presence of Chinese off the British, American and Japanese Consuls and a representative gather. {ing of the foreign and Chinese communities, The new mayor in a brief Address outlined his polley of working for the welfare of the: city" and all its " citizens from the highest to the lowest. Mr. Tsukamoto, the Japanese Consul, spoke of his cordial relations with Mr, Wang, and the British Consul, Mr. A. J. Martin congratulated Amoy on the honour conferred upon it and fon the selection of its mayor. They were followed by other speakers all of whom were wholeheartedly unanimous in their praise of Mr. Wang. and their hopes for the prosperity of the city under his administration.
Last week Admiral One, _commander of Makung Harbour. arrived fon a brief visit to Amoy with three Japanese warships an was enter. tained by the mayor of Amoy and by Admiral Ling of the Chinese navy.
USS. Canopus, flagship of the submarine squadron of the American Asiatic Fleet, is expected to arrive fon the 19th accompanied by four submarines, Intimation hax been given that equipment having been installed on the large island of Quemoy, which lies some fifteen miles up the coast from Amoy, it is now in communica~ tion by radio with the local station, A Derelict Railway Many years ago a railway was! projected between Amoy and Chang: chow a distance of about thirty miles. Commencing on the mainland over from Amoy, the track was laid for teen miles till the West River was reached. At this point there is a famous old bridge constructed of huge blocks of stone, but as a new bridge forty or fifty' feet in height and over "200 yards in length was required for the track, the railway stopped at this point and no further progress was made. spite of having to complete the last dozen miles on foot or by chair, for many years a primitive looking locomotive drawing three trucks made a dally journey and was later: superseded by a motor truck. The' construction of the motor road to, Changchow several years ago finally made successful competition. impossible. The project must have been a dead loss to the promoters as the track involved the erection of a large number of elaborate steel bridges 10 cross the numerous canals" and waterways along ils course and elaborate stations were originally, erected. For a number of. years track and rolling stock appears to have been practically derelict, but this week a representative of the Ministry of Railroads, Nanking, together with the engineer of the Canton-Kowloon Railway have arrived to examine the railroad with view to considering the track and its extension to Changchow and possibly the district beyond which is very rich in mineral resources.
Exnigration and Immigration Interesting sialistics have. been issued by the Bureau of Chinese Affairs, Amoy, showing the number inside. V'of persons leaving for and coming employees from 4 am. fo 10 pam. the emigrants 4542 went to. British, 1878 to Dutch, 1283 to American and 154 Japanese possessions. Of those! returning 1880 came from British, 12 from Japanese, 782 from Dutch, 638 from American and seven from French possessions.
Unemployment and Crime 'There was another successful bank robbery Inst week when in the late afternoon seven armed men entered two neighbouring money exchange shops and succeeded in making off with $400 in bank-notes, the silver being Jeff untouched on' account its weight. There have been other projected robberies but fortunately the thieves were frustrated in their attempts. On another occasion ten ex.soldiers robbed a baker's stand and one of the thieves was injured by the owner and had to be removed to hospital. Many of the—minor robberies are due to the prevailing depression with its accompanying unemployment. There appear to be many ex-soldiers ina state of des. Uitution and the number of beggars seems to be increasing. That many of these are reduced to the lowest levels of human existence possible is testified by the number of casual wayside deaths amongst such classes. during the past few months. In January. thirteen such cases were reported. in February and 43 in March. The local government is attempting to do: something for these unfortunate classes but s0 far have received little support from the general public.
Al last week's meeting of the Rotary Club of Amoy Mr. J. A. Roberts, of Amoy University, gave a much appreciated" address "Scottish "Humour" illustrated by many pawky jokes.
When the Kulangsu Public Market was opened in December of Inst year and all butchers, fishmongers and sellers of vegetables were concentrat~ ed in the new premises, many of the old shops were left amply. As most of those were in a congested part of the town and many were old and dilapidated it was hoped that this opportunity would be taken by the owners to rebuild or improve their premises. Some of the buildings are now in protes of demolition and the new shops should do much to improve the amenities and sanitary condition of the district. Formerly these main streets were badly congested by the cods displayed in the early morning. street market and the activities of hawkers of meat, fish and vegetables. 'The Public Market, which occupies central site. belongs to a Public 'Market Corporation which functions in accordance with an agreement made with the Municipal Council, giving it a monopoly "for twenty' years subject to municipal regula. ions. All vendors of meat, poultry, fish, and dried and fresh vegetables must make use of the market for the sale of their goods, except, for the time being, such as in more remote arts'of the island, and no hawkers of these articles are permitted to operate in the central congested area. 'The profit of the Market Corporation between eight and ten per cent. on capital and various questions of changes in rent, depreciation, ete. fare in the hands' of a Market Com: mission consisting of three members, tone appointed by the Municipal Council, one by the market Corpora. tion, and one by the stall-holders of the market. The market is normally open to the public from 6 am. to 8 pin, and to stall-holders and their fand the United States, as "liquidated,"
Hirota, has informed the British and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.