Country people who have anything whatever to sell get good prices and are making purchases of what they need for the Lunar New Year now fast approaching, The collection and payment of debis in much less than {in past years, because merchants have not been able or willing to credit customers, and tenant farmers are not compelled by fear of law to pay rents, Land taxes temporarily sus-Pended, cause imposts on morchanand earning privileges by the powers that be.
During the confusion after the city was occupied, nearly every house was looted, Since then it has been interesting to find some item of one' movable property for on the street and embarrassing to have a neighbour claim something of his found on one's premises, If it ked "what became of all the loot," the answer Is likely to be," "about one-third burnt, one-third' shipped away, the balance sold or yet for sale by second-hand dealers."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.