A LAND OF CHAOS,

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14404, 11 July 1912, Page 7

A LAND OF CHAOS,

CHINA'S DEPLORABLE CONDITION. INSOLVENCY AND VIOLENCE. United Press Association—By Electrio Telegraph—Copyright. PORT DARWIN, July 10, Tho Chinese files state that China is politically in a chaotic condition, and in a hopeless tangle financially. There ia wholesale swindling and corruption, particularly among high military officers, who are drawing tho pay of thousands of non-existent troops, with the avowed purposo ot putting down lawlessness. Wholesale decapitations are taking place, and other cruelties are practised undc,r the now regime, equal in horror to tome of tho most bloody records under the old Manchu rule. The Central Government is without revenue, owing to the Provincial Governments retaining all tho money collected in tho respective provinces. The country is floocted with Government money that i\ practically valueless. Hordes of bandits aro ravaging certain districts, and piracies on tho West river and. other waterways are still frequent, despite the fact that most of the rivers aro phtrolled by gunboats. It is alleged many innocent people have been boheaded whose only crimo has been that they excited the enmity of some official in power. There is general oiscontent at the present conditions, nnd thero are rumours of further revolutions being hatched in Hong Kong.