Eight silk factories, two flour mills, and no cátton mills are open. Business is reviving, and a good deal of building is in progress, though the materials being used are pot of a high standard.
About half of the small foreign community has returned, the absent being a mother with young children, one couple on furlough and children at school in Shanghai. Life in the city seems very normal and peaceful, but rumours from the country side are not tranquil.
There are four trains a day each way, between Shanghaj and Wusih and all are crowded. First, second, and third class coaches are now at the service of the public. The motor road is rough and the trip by private car took hours for the 97 miles, but repairs were in progress and it is reasonable to think the road will improve rapidly, though a trip over it in wet weather is not to be-recommended.
Dairen, Sept. 28.
airan residents are now faced with the unfortunate probability of water rationing in the immediate future unless the rain god relents and pelts this city with ' his liquid for about a month or so. As this move draws nearer people are becoming more and more disgruntled as except for a few clouds which appear spasmodically, the town is "bathed, day after day in brilliant sunshine. This fact is additionally annoying as other cities in Manchoukuo have been getting more than their share of rat the flood water in Harbin having as-conded to the attics of the smaller houses.
This present drought is the' worst that has been experienced here for the past thirty-four years. The total volume of water now remaining is only 3,400,000 cubic metres and if the past rate of consumption is continued, and no rain falls, all reservoirs, eic, will be dry before the end of November. In an attempt to meet this shortage the sum of Y.1,300,000 has been appropriated by the Kwantung government for sinking a series of wells but, even so, this project cannot. be completed before next January.
The fifth plan for expanding the supply of water at a cost of Y. 6,300,- 000 is now being carried ow, but seeing that even with this there would still be insufficient, the sixth plan was begun this year.
The city fathers were certain that this year would be a wet one as for some decades rainy years have come in a cycle—an exceptionally wet one every sixth year, and this was it. On the.contrary however, it turned out to be a record dry one. In fact, except for the precautions which were taken in 1936, when wells were sunk in Dairen and Port Arthur, costing 1,600,000, the reservoirs would have been emptied before this.
This scare, however, has had one good result. It persuaded the Kwantung Bureau in Hsinking to approve of the disbursement of Y. 10,000,000 during the next fiscal year for the Y. 35,000,000 plan to bring water from the Pilui River which is along the border between the Kwantung Territory and Manchoukuo. When this scheme is carried through there will be an end, once and for all to the problem of supplying sufficient water to this city.
In the meantime no water can be spared for sluicing the streets, Dairen nowadays being a stout rival of Mukden which has the unenviable reputation of being the dustiest city in the whole of Manchuria, The electric toothbrush claimed to be 100 per cent. more efficient is said to look not unlike an electric razor.
From the handle extends a short supporting a circular row of rubber teeth, the vibrator. The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has acquired motion picture rights to the novel, "Kindling," by Nevil Shute, published this spring by William Morrow. It will be added to the list of properties assembled for. the new season. machinery in the handle. oscillates 7,200 times a minute, all it requires is manipulation. Complete safety is claimed as if the vibrator is pushed too hard it just stops until the pressure is released.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.