Yangtse River Floods Lay Waste China's Valley
AFTER the devastations of Boxers and foreigners, China has now to suffer from a flood of appalling severity. The Yangtse River has overflowed its banks, and laid waste the valley. Ten million persons are reported to be without homes and without provision for the coming winter. Civil disorder is feared, and the floods have not yet subsided. From the North China Herald we learn some of the details of the labor of rescue. Immediately on hearing of the deluge, two Chinese banks advanced a sum of twenty thousand taels, and a special delegate was sent up the river to distribute relief. Other large sums came from Chinese sympathizers, and foreign houses of commerce also contributed. A foreign committee was formed to work in conjunction with the native committee, and it was hoped that a sum might be collected sufficiently large to enable some permanent work to be done, besides the actual relief of immediate distribution. The floods, however, have proved destructive beyond all expectation.—The Independent.