The chief of the waterworks set an example by taking only one bath a week, instead of the customary daily plunge, That one bath he "shared with his two sons so that the level of the meagre supply of water he allowed himself in the tub would rise with three persons squatting in It, Public-spirited families adopted various, other water-saving schemes. Swimming pools in the city were left dry and. the water of trickling aifeams was used sparingly for rescuscitaling shade trees and shrubbery in parks and~along the streets. In the Central Park alone, 60 men have been watering 3,000 maple and swamp cypress trees recently transplanted there. Sprinkdling the main thoroughfares to keep the dust down and nurturing parched farm lands, orchards and flower gardens serious! drained available sources of fre water other than for household use, Not far north, Manchoukud moaned under a prolonged deluge which this week reached such proportions as to cause widespread inundation and damage along the Hsinking-Harbin and the Harbin-Lafa railway lines.
France Interested in Manchoukuo The local press again betrays excitement over what is conceived as 'a momentous opportunity for French participation in the development of Manchoukuo. The arrival here from Shanghai on July 20 of M. Lucian Merlet, a French engineer, has given rise to the surmise that he "will enter into important commercial negotia-tons with the Government of choukuo." M, Merlet is further credited with the intention of negotiating with Manchoukuo for the establishment of a permanent French representation in this country "with a view to fostering closer trade felatlons between France and Man-
Dally News" declares, "the Franco-Manchoukuo Enterprise Society," which M, Merlet represents, "greatly stimulated by the new German-Manchoukuo agreement, seems to have decided to have a bigger interest in Manchou-Kuo and ce-operate more closely with Manchoukuo commercially." It also adds that "much importance attached to the outcome of the talks which the visiting French represent tive will hold with Hsinking officials, both of the Government of Manchowno and of the Kwantung Army.
'M, Merlet himself, however, was Jess' explicit than the local press, excusing himself from unfolding purported intentions by simply declaring that "when a man is on a serious Business he must not talk too much about it."
He said sparingly that he was on "a business errand to Hsinking'" and that he expected to meet quite a number of important people there. If justified, "I may return to Manchoukuo late this year or early next year to resume negotiations," he explained. "His itinerary calls for a two-day stop at Hsinking, a visit to Harbin and the boarding of a trans-Siberian train' at Manchouli on July 26, reaching Paris on August 5,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.