CHINESE PIRACY.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19805, 18 December 1929, Page 13

CHINESE PIRACY.

PROTECTION OF BRITISH COMMERCE. MINISTER EXPLAINS POSITION. ,«RITIia OWCI4 1 WIRELESS) (Received December 17th. 5.5 p.m.) RUGBY, December 16. In the House of Commons, Mr Arthur Henderson, Foreign Secretary, was asked whether he had made* any representations t.-, th>. i hineso Government regarding the increase of piracy along the Chinese coas*. He replied that representations had been rep'eatedly made' iu recent years, and the British Minister had instructions to the matter before the Chinese Government with a view to the latter taking effective suppressive measures, far as his information went, there had l.e-'D no deterioration in the situation during recent months. The problem oi securing the safety of British .-ommereo -wa> one that wa < being constantly kept in i icw. It chouM have heeo notired that in the recent case of piracy upon the steamer Haching, two British warships bad been instrumental in saving the vessel. AFFAIRS IN CHINA. TWO MISSIONARIES ABDUCTED. VCNITED rt:K-5S ASSOCIATION—V* EI.CCTBTC TELEGRAPH COPYRIGHT.) SHANGHAI, December 16. Reliable reports from Canton show that the Cantonese victory is not exaggerated. The invaders arc MJII retreating helter-skelter. A disciplined gang of Communists invaded Tayeh, a town fifty miles south-east of Hankow, and abducted the Revs. H. Sandy and E. Levesey, Methodist missionaries, and are holding them for heavy ransom. It is a strange fact that the town was not looted. The chances of a repetition of the 1927 incidents occurring in Shanghai appear negligible. The latest stock-taking of the tion reveals that the prompt measures taken by the Chinese military authorities prevented the Communist outbreaks assuming serious proportions. STRENGTH OF FOREIGN FORCES. tBKITISB OFFICIAL WIRELESS.) RUGBY, December 16. Mr Arthur Henderson stated in the House of Commons that, so far as his information went, the forces opposed to the Nanking Government in China had been defeated near Canton and had made no further progress on any of the other main lines of attack. The situation at Nanking and Shanghai appeared to be quirt. Naval forces available for the protection of British nationals in case of danger were five cruisers, one aircraft carrier, eight destroyers, five sloops, and eighteen gunboats. The available military forces consisted of three battalions at HongKong, two in Shanghai, and two at Tientsin, with a small detachment at Peking and. Wei-hei-Wei. Other foreign Powers had an aggregate naval strength in Chinese waters which was approximately the same and about 8000 troops, mainly at Tientsin and Shanghai.