Unfortunately this year a number Jof things militated against the suc-Jeess of the meeting. The people long the immediate frontier still feel the effects of the Communist Invesion of last year. While there fg considerable wealth in Tachienlu {there is also very much poverty, and the price of foodstuffs has risen so alarmingly that many people have lived for months on' the verge of starvation. "Rice went up to over $90 per picul and while not many people live entirely on rice stilt the price of other things followed that of rice. samba or ground barley rose to Rs. }26 for 60 catties, and corn meal which very largely eaten by the poorer people, rose to about five cattles for $1. And beet, pork and fat, prices went up accordingly. Costs are slowly coming down but there is still considerable suffering among the Communist refugees. A woman stood at the front door the other day seeking to sell her two small children and similar eases are known all over town, Hundreds if not thousands of these refugees have flocked into Tachienia from. Danba, Mowkung, Tsonghu, Shuching and Daofu, Hundreds of them find a living day by day carry-Ing wood, and hundreds found work other' directions, Thousands Communists passed through the land ike a gigantic swarm of locusts ¢at-{ing up anything and everything Ing the country bare of food and animals. The Central Authorities Ihave tried to help but what the poor people want is not money but food: jand there is no food in many parts of the interior.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.