GRUESOME SIGHT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 39, 25 November 1937, Page 5

GRUESOME SIGHT

THE BOMBING OF CANTON. SECTIONS OF CITY A SHAMBLES. VICTIMS BLOWN TO PIECES. (United Press Association —Copyright.) (Received This Day, 12.50 p.m.) CANTON, November 24. Honam Island presented a most gruesome sight after half an bour’s bombing from the air, in which raiders used 5001 b bombs which shook the whole city and reduced sections to a shambles. It is believed that at least 162 are dead or missing. Many were blown to pieces and others so mutilated as to be unrecognisable. Armies of coolies are digging in the ruins recovering further bodies. TWO CITIES SUFFER. MANY CIVILIANS KILLED. *J (Received This Day, 10.15 a.m.) SHANGHAI, November 24. The Japanese claim the capture of Wushing. Forty persons including five children, were killed in an air raid on Nanking. Eight ’planes bombed the, heart of the city, the fronts of shops and houses being ripped off. Over 100 civilians were killed in Japanese air raids on Canton and Honan, across the river. Large parts of the slum areas in Canton were wrecked. WARNING TO CANTONESE. INDISCRIMINATE BOMBING. FOOD RIOTS AT SHANGHAI.' (Received This Day, 10.30 a.m.) SHANGHAI, November 24. The Japanese have warned the inhabitants of Canton to evacuate the city, as it will henceforth be subject to indiscriminate bombing. Food riots have broken out in the French Concession at Shanghai. Thousands of ragged refugees besieged the rice shops. The police dispersed the mob by baton charges. All the food shops are now guarded. * ’ ART GALLERY DAMAGED. , (Received This Day, 9.5 a.m.) NANKING, November 24. Japanese bombs damaged the National Art Gallery. General Tang 'Seng-chi, in charge of the defences of Nanking, has assumed full responsibility for the safety of foreign life and property, “even in the hour of extreme danger. ’’ DETERMINED BID BY CHINESE. THE JAPANESE YIELD GROUND. (Received This Day, 1.45 p.m.) SHANGHAI, November 24. With the arrival of fresh troops, the Chinese are making a determined bid to stop the Japanese advance on the Wusih front. It is claimed that the Japanese were forced to yield ground, while the Chinese are heroically resisting in the streets of Wushing. A Japanese Army spokesman said a halt had been called on the whole front for the purpose of re-forming the lines. AMERICAN EFFORT FOR PEACE. TO BE CONTINUED. WASHINGTON, November 23. Mr Roosevelt said at a press conference that the United States nfould continue diplomatic efforts to effect world peace; but he declined to comment on the collapse of the Nine-Power Conference at Brussels. The President added: “Our policy will be directed to preventing unrest and future, dangers.’’ He would not formulate any opinion of the Nine-Power Conference until he saw Mr Norman Davis’ last dispatches. The State Department indicated that there will be close collaboration among all foreign Governments in saving their interests in Shanghai. If Japan attempts to direct activities in the International Settlement, and if' her plans are broadened to include the seizure of actual control, the United States will join other interested Governments in emphatic representations. The Chinese Ambassador (Mr Wang) issued a statement in which he accuses the peace-loving Powers of counting the cost, and - of inertia in the face of international lawlessness. “It is threatening to shatter the very foundations of international civilisation, and the hope of our youth is being dashed to pieces,” he said.