The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1912. FAMINE IN CHINA.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 33, 3 February 1912, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1912. FAMINE IN CHINA.

At the end of December advices received in England stated that the population of Central China is face to face with one of the worst famines that'have occurred in modern times. The affected area is between 30,001) and 10,000 square miles, and, according to a very conservative reckoning, two and a half million people will be without the means of sustenance between the months of January and May. This widespread distress is, in the main, due to Hoods. The Hwai River has no proper outlet to the sea, and in recent times Hoods are almost annual occurrences. Then the mighty Yangtse River has risen higher this last summer than for forty years. Dykes have collapsed at many points between Ichang (over IUUO miles from the month of the Yangtse) and the sea. The third Hooded region is North Hunan. Jn the middle of November, after a few days of steady rain, this region was flooded for a third time in 1911, and the cultivated land is more than ton feet under water. Other contributing causes to the awful present famine arc the scarcity of the crops and a succession of bad years, which have rendered the people of the affected districts well-nigh hopeless; failure of the Government to repair the dykes and to keep the watercourses open; and, lastly, the revolution. Trade all over the empire is at a standstill, and there is little hope that the Chinese can adequately help their suffering fellow-nationals at such a time. The Central China Famine Relief Committee has been formed in Shanghai for the purpose of collecting accurate information regarding the conditions in the famine area and making them known to the world. The Committee is international and has many leading commercial men, both foreigners and Chinese, among its members, ft appeals for sympathetic assistance, and pledges itself faithfully to administer relief to the famine-stricken people as far as the funds entrusted to it will allow.