"Squeeze" Racket by Local Volunteers Hampers Trade Canton (By maiD.
"With the population slowly drifting back into the city, mostly via Macao, from where the Japanese are running a hi-weekly shipping service, the recently-inaugurated municipal administration has seriously begun grappling with the task of rehabilitate ing this once great town.
Among other things it has hitherto re-established the Canton District Court, started a bus service, and established agencies and depots in various parts of the city to sell rice to the people at a low price. In addition, it hopes shortly to erect a wireless station for communication with the outside world.
No effort, however, has so far been made to clear the charred debris of gutted buildings. In the majority of instances, only the walls are standing, and these will probably come crashing down should a minor storm hit the city.
A leadiflg article in the "Canton Daily Sun," the only English-language newspaper here, urges the immediate suppression of several "evil practices" now prevalent, including unrestricted gambling. "protection taxes" imposed by Chinese "volunteers" and the open sale of cat and dog meat.
The journal is particularly bitter against the "volunteers who pay frequent visits to small hawkers and shopkeepers, demanding a few cents each time as protection fee. No receipts are ever given, with the result that the same hawkers and shopkeepers pay the levy several times in one day because of the many different groups of volunteers operating.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.