WAR IN CHINA

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXIII, Issue 30, 7 February 1901, Page 3

WAR IN CHINA

BUBSIA DOMINATES THE CANTON HANKAU RAILWAY. SETBBITT OF THE FAMINE AT BHBNSI. CANNIBALISM PREVALENT. FIVE MILLIONS AFFECTED. [FSB pbess AsaeoiATieir.] (RaoeiTed 6, 9.30 a.m.) London, February 4. The 'Shanghai correspondent of Tht Times states that a Belgian syndicate has acquired a two-thirds share of a coßcnsion for the Canton Hankau railway. He adds that thii acquisition is .doubtless owing to Russia* iaflnoooes and marks the domioatiea by Rowia of the entire line.

_ Famine prevails is the Bbuui Frovim and is the wont ever recorded. Two-thirds of the people an without food, their oxen, horsei, and dogi k»Ting all been eaten.

'He weather is bitterly oo'd. Cannibalism is common, and m*n are wiling womon and children to obtain food,

(Beceived 6,9.27 a.m),

Sydney, February 6. Eastern files contain the following reference to the famine in China:— A severe famine is ravaging the Hsain Plaia and the Shansi and Shensi provinces. Unless rain falls very soon the condition of these provinces next spring will be intolerable. Borne compare it to the great famine, but find in the latter some redeeming feature absent in this one, notably the impossibility to-day to raise money by 1 the sale of property or otherwise. It] if estimated the famine in Shensi pro-j Yisoe along affects five million people. ]