Hongkong, Sept. 30.
Now that Hongkong is no longer under the shadow of Japanese invasion, rich people who went to Manila, Haiphong, Macao and elsewhere are coming back to the Colony, most of them being the wives of taipans and rich Chinese officials. On the contrary, many Chinese residents are leaving for the interior. This is due to the high cost of living following the outbreak of the European war. Imports are increased from 20 to 40 per cent. Edibles such as vegetables, fresh water fsh and fruits are more expensive owing to the blockade of the Kwangtung coast and the Japanese invasion of the Chungshan area, Cantonese are returning, as they have their houses there. The population in that city is said to be about 600,000, almost one half of the normal figure. Like Shanghai and Hongkong, the cost of living in Canton has gone up considerably, but here it is worse as its currency is three and a half times the value of -the National dollar.
The Hongkong Government is trying to check profiteering, but so far efforts were not successful. Merchants point out that commodity prices rose sharply during the last Great War owing to the difficulty in shipping goods to the Far East.
The European war has held up 24 Boxer students from going to. England and they are waiting for further instructions, It is learned that
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.