The unrestricted opening of the Hungjao area to foreign and Chinese alike which occurred on Sunday will be welcomed by all those who desire to see the rehabilitation of that district, and the fact that throughout the day a steady stream of farmers were to be seen going back to their land is indicative of their anxiety to get to work again. It is Obvious from the reports to hand that much ¢leaning-up will have to be resorted to before the place becomes completely safe either for residence or other purposes. It is stated that most of the potato-masher type of bombs have been cleared away, but unexploded artillery, and trench mortar shells are still to be found lying about in yards and gardens where they fell. Those going back to the land should be warned of the danger of interfering with these missiles. It will be remembered that for a long period after the trouble of 1932 occasional reports appeared in the newspapers of deaths and injuries resulting from tampering "with these things. It does not follow that because a shell failed to explode when it was fired from a cannon that it will remain quiescent under any kind of treatment, and one of the most foolhardy things for anyone to do is to try and break a shell down without the highly technical knowledge which is necessary. It is possible that some arrangements will have to be made for clearing away these dangerous articles, but until that is done those who happen to run across them would be well advised to leave them alone. In other connections the remark is often made that it is better to be safe than sorry, but meddling with an unexploded shell may deprive that meddler of even the chance to experience regret, With regard to another aspect of the unconditional reopening of the Hungjao district it is to be hoped that every care will be taken to prevent the occurrence of untoward incidents. That will require considerable forbearance on the part of everyone, but is essential that this should be carefully observed. It is only with the return of confidence to the Chinese who normally occupy that area that others usually residing in other districts will be persuaded also to return to their homes and get to work on the task of rehabilitation which is so long overdue.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.