THE PLAGUE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 242, 18 February 1911, Page 5

THE PLAGUE

ON THE KHIRGIZ STEPPES. By Cable—Press Association —Copyright. St. Petersburg, February 16. Thirty persons have taken the plague on the Khirgiz Steppes, all the cases proving fatal. WILL FALSE HAIR SURVIVE! London, February 10. The Mail says that Mr. John Burns, President of the Board of Trade, does not intend taking action with regard to the importation of Chinese hair belonging to Chinese who have died of plague. Germany requires hair to be taken from a living body.

HARBIN DESCRIBED. CRIME, DISEASE. AND AMUSEMENT. A contributor to the Christchurch "Press," who has a personal and intimate acquaintance with Harbin, where the plague is now raging with such severity, says that fourteen years ago trie city was nothing but a small Manchurian village, consisting of a few dilapidated houses and an old Chincsa distillery. The Russians, when building what is now called the Trans-Siberian railway, decided to make this village their base of operations. Two years ago this town covered twelve square miles, and the Russian population alone consisted of 00,000. The town is divided into three sections, viz., old Harbin, or Starytown, Newtown, and Pricstown. Starytown is the original village from which it derives its name. Newtown is the residential centre, and Priestown the business centre and port of Harbin. At the time the writer was there the town was controlled by ,the Chief of the Railway Administration. There was no taxation of any sort, and no municipal authority, the consequence being that there was little or no drainage of any sort. The sunitary arrangements were deplorable, and the roads in the mosl terrible condition. It was quite a common thing when driving through the streets after rain to'sec the horses up to their bellies in liquid'mud and filth, and the floor of the droshky awash. The street lighting was by no means good, and' the police, and detective force quite inadequate to cope with the number of lawless characters who infested the lower portion of the town. The following constitutes the crime list for four days:— (1) Policeman shot in the main street in broad daylight by Hunhutzcs (redhaired brigands). (2) House broken into, the mistress stabbed, and ten thousand roubles, carried off.

(3) Lady sitting on a verandah after dinner talking to friends, suddenly a report, and the lady falls to the ground severely wounded. (4) ' Chinaman, walking along the street, suddenly seized from behind and strangled^ Adjoining Priestown to the east is a large Chinese town, at which every two or three days n bazaar is held. Amongst all this crime Harbin is an exceedingly gay place, and in the usual Russian manner night is turned into day. There are no fewer than live big theatres, where the very best companies from Moscow and St. Petersburg are to be seen. There is also a huge stationary circus and mena'gerie, run by the famous Baronsky. At one favorite place of resort there is a theatre and music-hall in most beautifully laid out gardens, and in the summer time a most sumptuous dinner is served in the open air. Just in front of the music-hall stage, and during the intervals at the theatre, a turn is put on at the music-hall. Then at about midnight when play at the theatre is finished the people flock to the tables, and the performance at the music-hall commences and continues until the first streak of dawn. Harbin during the summer months is terribly hot, the thermometer rising to 100 degrees, and during the winter months falling to 30 and 40 below zero.