Harbin, July 30.
Harbin may count itself lucky this year, as the foods which have done '50 much damage to the east of this city and also in South Manchuria, have not affected the Sungari to any abnormal degree. Details of the flood in the Ping-Hsiang Province show that the population has sutfered more severely than in previous floods, and the loss of life must be considerable. The Lalin river is not wide one, but it has overfrown to the width of five miles for a distance of about sixty miles; in this region Mhere" are eighty. well-populated points, all of which have been flood ed to such an extent that the unfortunate inhabitants had no place to save themselves from the waters, except on the roofs of their hous many houses. collapsed and carried away those who were living in them. Naturally, many of the inhabitants had no time in which to secure any provisions and at a conservative estimate 27,000 people have had to suffer semi-starvation, From 20 to) 30 persons dally are said to have Jost their lives, either through starvation oF drowning.
Every effort is being made to give assistance to these unfortunates. A organization, "The Red promptly collected 100,000 sacks of maize and kaoliang to. be forwarded to the flood area. The railway authorities agreed to provide free carriage on the railway line to the ne possible delivery point and the slocks of provisions have deen sent under the charge of experis who have dealt with such cases before.
"As regards the railway line from Harbin to Halngking, the trains are again running but they are doing so only during the day as there is still possibility of a washout occurring through a sudden rush of water at some given point. 'The Sungari River however, shows no sign of a further rise and' it is not thought that Harbin will suffer from any big flood this year, The Lalin River flood is bound to do very considerable damage to the crops in the Ping-Hsiang district and this cannot possibly be estimated until the floods have subsided altogether and the farmers are able to find out to what extent their elds Apparently floods in South Manchuria have been much worse than those in the north, as statistics show that the amount of water in the south is considerably in excess of what hag eon experienced in the north.
During "the summer the Water-waiks Depa tment of the Munieipality commenced work on the laying of pipes to furnish water for the Yesidents of the city, and at the same waterworks' was constructed, New Town. At present, four new wells have been sunk outside the city to a depth at which excellent water can be found and these are intended to supply the second waterworks, which is now being construeted. With the completion of the second waterworks station the oily will be covered with a network of water mains and at last it will be possible for those who reside here to receive water which is fit to drink, The San-Ho-shin Flour Mills have recently ordered fifteen new grinding machines of the latest type from Germany, these cost a sum of $400,- 000, It 1S expected that the "new machinery will arrive here in and on being installed in the output will reach 10,000 ichs of flour daily.
Last year, Mr. A. N, Koshwar was temporarily' appointed representative of the Lithuanian Republic in Harbin, and he has now received a letter from his Government informing him of his appointment as Honorary Lithuanian Consul with full consular duties. The members of the local Lithuanian colony have decided to celebrate the event with a grand banquet in his honour. The Lithunian Government is planning 10. open a Consulate in Dairen very soon, as the Harbin Consulate is the only one Ju the Far East, excluding Japan and therefore has to perform the functions of a consulate-general. is understood that after the opening: of the consulate in Dalen, the Harbin Consulate will be made into' 4 consulate-general, 'The Tussian Orthodox Church, the Blagoveschenskaya, in' Polizeiskaya, Street, which has been under construction for the past three years, has now been completed. A. gilded cross three metres high was raised to the top of this magnificent new building, the ceremony being attended by crowds of Russians, who filled the yard of the church' and overflowed into the street, number of worn the Railway rolling stock repair ug plant
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.