Lanchow, May 1.
In the grip of a serious famine attendant by epidemics, districts to the west of the Yellow River in Kansu Present a scene of heart-rending destitution, Mr. Liu Kwang-pel, provincial' Commissioner of Civil Affairs, informed the Central News correspondent upon his return here from an Inspection tour to the western part of the province.
'With a view to studying at first hand the actual conditions of the much-reported famine, Mr. Liu Inspected in the course of his' three-week tour more than ten districts, including Yungteng, Kulang, Wuwel, Yungehang, Shantan, Changyi, Chin" chuan, Yumen, Anhsl and Tunhuang.
For thousands of miles west of the Yellow River, Mr. Liu remarked, the famine-strike land is in a state of utter devastation, The worst hit district is Chiuchuan, lying between Chinghat and Ninghsia provinees, where more than 100 people die of starvation daily, and roughly estimated that the famine bling claimed a death tolt of at least 4,000 during the past two month:
Surviving inhabitants, according to Mr, Liu are left with little food and clothing, huddling themselves dilapidated matsheds or seeking refuge in the open. In the nelghbouring district of Chinta, Mr. Liu reported, there are no less than 20,000 refugees whose situation is no better than that of the Chiuchuan residents,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.