NEWS FROM THE EAST.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 805, 30 April 1910, Page 14

NEWS FROM THE EAST.

CEtT HKEN BT EOBBEBS. INHABITANTS TOETTJEED.' Tho "China Post" tjvoa soma detaila of tho taking of the Chinese cily of Lwai Aen.Hsien by robbers. The city is built on an island in',the Liu Biver, and' is about three days' journey from Kweilii, the capital of Kwang-si province. -The country around' is. full of precipitous limestone mountains, affording secure retreats and hiding-places for bandits. The robbers killed the head'officials and many of the inhabitants. The young men of the place were made to. stand in lino like cattle, and were then secured by holes pierced through the protruding portion of the nose or through flesh at the back of the ankles, through which' pieces of string were passed. Eventually these captives were utilised as beasts of burden to carry off loot. All young and good-looking girls in tho city were also mustered by tho robbers and carried off by them into their mountain fastnesses. The concluding scene in the tragedy was setting fire to the town. A-cor-respondent says that although Ettlo is heard of theso tilings as a rule, outrages 'similar to the above are of frequent occurrence inland, and that village after village and city after city are plundered and desolated by these heartless bands of freebooters, who are rarely captured News is also published of a rebellion in the City of Wantan, situated near to the border of Kwcieh«w and Kwang-si. The trouble arose out of popular dissatisfaction caused by restrictions under new regulations regarding the growing of opium, which previously was axten" sively cultivated. Several of tho leading officials were killed.

A curious condition of affairs prevalent in some of the robber-infested districts of China is instanced by the recent arrest and trial of a man who was caught Belling tickets in a village, called Songtofle. At his_ trial, it transpired that he was an emissary of a gang of robbers, and that tlio tickets, numbers of -which ho had sold at a good price, were guarantees of protection signed by the chief of robbers guaranteeing purchasers from molestation when the band should take possession of the viMage. •A serious affray took place at the beginning of the present month at Taokoo docks, near Hong-Kong. A row originated in a dispute between a Chinese carpenter and a boilerraaker, which culminated' in a fight, in which the latter was worsted. A fierce fight would have" resulted then and there between partisans of either man, but wag quashed by the foreign staff. When the men knocked off in the afternoon, howover, a number of carpenters made a furious attack upon, the boilermakers, and a free fight ensued, in which knives and other weapons were used. It was some time before the police arrived and restored order. In the interim, thToe men had been killed and several' wounded.