THE DROUGHT AND FAMINE IN NORTH CHINA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 53, 2 March 1878, Page 4

THE DROUGHT AND FAMINE IN NORTH CHINA.

./From the North China Bei aid, Dec. 13 ] The Shn.si Famina Appeal Committee at PcklDs ha 3 been appoiuted a workiDg Committee to correspond wit!) other boniep, having iv view the relief of the distn-ssed iD Shaosi. We hear from the region rouud Chiehe*.-*, in South Chihli, thnt (he distress ia already gna* — very great throughout ths entire region, in consequence of ihe failure of crops. One coi :eß()on.*icu', who in-.-. lately returned fr**m au (.n' : ourayin.; uiisaiouary tour, writes aa follow.:-— "The r.^iou is usaal iy vt.ry f iuiiiu!, and villages are ihi.k and thi kypeopied thtou*j[hout the whoie il ir*- . i ie- 1 . Alrcaiy, within a month of wh<t should bavo be-ru bui *?es?, ihe house*-. are half empty ; well-io--.io fum'-lit-a bnvin*i good houses ami £oo_ clothes, have already nothiog fo eat save weeds aud leave., mixed with the scanty produce of their field., stalks, leaves, aud heads all ground together to form a kind of meal capable of beiug made up iuto cukes. Tbe poorer classes bave nothing but leaves and woeds. Numbers of houses £have boen pulled down to sell ;

the roofs, walls Rnd timbers. The animalls are all sold, clothes and furniture in many cases pawned for the most trifling sums, and many families herding iv borrowed hove!.. f-o-n which the cows havo been .oid. their own houses having been already unroofed und the proceeds eaten. Many houses have ttlrf'itdy -enrto ir.mafpfl ''cad of hu-jer, I personally entered 120 houses in six or S3v.ii village?. The s -encs were hr*ai!.ron.lin>-, yet borne with n patient, cheerfulness that fairly astonished mo. Ono thing is certain, that duriug tho forthcoming winter, despite the efforts thafc may be made, many thousands must die in South Chihli. Indeed, I feat* that six fl.uros will not record the loss, eveu ehould nest yen* provo moro fruitful." A Peking correspondent sends us the following notes regarding the famine region in Shausi, which is said now to embrace a population of nearly ten million*-, needing relief: — "'Yesterday I hnd a conversation with a young tradesman just come fro-xt Fen-yang-hien, in Uie midst of the Buffering ■ region. He states that large numbers of meu and boys are leaving their homes for oiher parts where ore the menus of living. The most of the fugitives go to Mongolia, in tho direction of Calgan and Kwei-hwa-chsng. The wives and girls stay behind to starve. He says that mauy more women than m9n die of slarvalion. The dole of relief ia 15 cash for adul-s and 12 for children per di3in. This is given at the villages by persons appointed by the officers. Tho prices of graiu are now fixed by proclamation not to exceed 1700 cash psr two of small millet, loOOof wheal, and 800 of. kau Jiang. These are the only two measures of relief employed by the Government. These are no public work, fjr the euiploymooiof tho starving people. Rich men subscribe to the amount of five or •■ix hundred taels or less. Some Shaosi merchants in Peking give as much as this sura, which is considered the height of liberality. Money subscribed by private persons ia distributed by the respectable and infl.utial residents in each city. To facilitate distribution, an offico is opened in the cities, and the money is given by trustworthy persous, who go round tho di.tricts where .uff.riug prevails, aud give to tho.se who ne.d. At the pawnshops mouey is lent on the security of articles worth Aye times the amount of the loaa. The deal are necessarily buried without coffins. When there are none to bury the dead, the b.iliff of the village undertakes the duty,*'