Bvon along the railways the Japanese maintain sometimes a, precarious hold, and many of the main lines are far from safe, while inthe far {erior, the Tines can be used for mil tary. purposes only, The. Peiping-Hankow tine haw been constantly aided and broken, as algo the section the Peiping-Suiyuan tine between Kalgan and Suiyuan, and this latter so thoroughly, that the line has been ut of commission for weeks on end. 'The large coal mines at Tatung In North Shansi, on this latter line, have been put out of action in recent weeks, and the smaller mines at Tol in the' Western Ifills, not far from There is a constant tale of wrecked ening and damaged cars, which ginning to make liselé felt in a shortage of railway worsens, fare not enough to meet even the really reduced passenger and goods services in these parts. "Under such circumstances it is not surprising that, After nearly two years occupation, the apanese are stii! unable to get ahead with their eeonomle development of north China, The Inrgest independ area is the. vast West of the Peipin comprising parts of the provinces of Shansi, Suiyuan, Chahar and Hopei. This forms n solid block with over 14,000,000 population. At one time it included the whole of Central Hopei jet. ven when a city has been o¢- vz] cupied, It does not help very much [towards pacifying the couniey, be-Jeause of the ever increasing difficulty of finding persons to carry on any kind of loca! administration.
'When Japanese forces approach a town, all prominent people are ordered to leave, and only the riff-raf is] Toft behind' "and those who take on 13 job. under the Japanese do so at enormous risk, as they are promptly shot if caught by the guerillas. The farmers of the surrounding districts have no longer any inducement to boring their produce to a practically deserted city, xo that the Japanese have to bring all their supplies lorry from the nearest railway station In this they ore greatly hampered by the destruction of the motor roads, the guerillas digging trenches six fect deep across. them, The famous raw colton supplies, which were to have been one of the prizes of the campaign, are also proving illusory, as. the guerillas have been able to stop the farmers planting this crop, which has consequently, ie is said, been re~ need by 80 per' cent,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.