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40 GENERAL REVIEW OF THE YEARcapital in the development of China s mineral wealth, whileat the same time conserving the interests of the ChineseRepublic. The draft of these regulations lias been recentlycompleted and now awaits final sanction.^ ^ s un f rtunate that thePetroleum investigationscarried on for several years by the Standard Oil Company in Shensi Province for petroleum wellshave not resulted in the success which it was hoped wouldmeet the endeavours of this company. It now appears thatpetroleum in paying quantities cannot be found in thisprovince, which at one time was thought to be rich in oildeposits. For the present at least the work has beenabandoned.The Hwai Ivivcr Conservancy work, theinvestigations concerning which were madeunder the direction of the American RedCross, which now falls under the China ConservancyBureau, of which the Vice-Minister of Agriculture andCommerce is Director, is receiving considerable attention,both from the Chinese authorities and from American capitalists who have been invited to finance this work. TheEuropean War has, for the present, interfered with thefinancing of a work requiring the tying-up of large capital,but indications point to the inauguration of at least aportion of this work within the near future.The Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce( mitedCommercialduring 11)15 the Industrial and Corn-Commission mercial Commission. This Commission hasinaugurated the very important work ofsecuring full, detailed, statistical data regarding commercial,industrial and economic conditions in China. It has begunby securing this material for Cliihli and Shantung Provinces and already, working through the magistrates in theseprovinces, it has succeeded in securing a vast amount ofvaluable data which are being classified and compiled forpractical use. The Commission is also collecting materialfor a commercial and industrial library. It superintended,last year, the holding of the Peking Native Products and theAll-China Native Products Expositions, held in Peking. Theseexpositions were attended by thousands of Chinese visitors