IN GRIP OF STRIKE

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 54, 27 November 1926, Page 9

IN GRIP OF STRIKE

GRAVE SITUATION AT HANKOW MILITARY FORCES POWERLESS FOREIGN PROPERTY LOOTED The situation at Hankow is growing worse. All business is at a standstill in consequence of the strike. The military authorities admit their inability to control the situation, and serious rioting is feared.

By Telegraph, press association Copy bightPeking, November 25. Japanese residents at Hankow are lacing a food crisis as the result of rigid picketing ol the Concessions, markets, and lood shops by strikers. The city is in the throes ot a general strike ot servants, wharl coolies, and foreigners' employees, who are responsible lor the picketing. Targe shipiftents ol foodstuffs are being sent from Shanghai to Hankow in response to an urgent appeal. All business is at a complete standstill and shipping operations are . suspended., Several overseas vessels .are: held up,and are unlikely to get away for months, as the river is rapidly falling. The majority of the newspapers have suspended publication owing to the employees striking. British and American residents have armed- themselves and are patrolling the Concessions. The military declare that they are powerless to control the situation, which is in the hands of the labourers Looting of foreign property outside the Concessions has commenced, and riots are hourly feared. Foreign flying squads are turning out frequently to quell outbreaks between the mobs and foreigners who insist on protecting their .property. Often bloodshed has been narrowlv averted. The larger foreign warships will shortlv be leaving, owing to the river falling, and this is causing anxiety to the residents. The Yangtse River lightkeepers have declared a strike in sympathy with the Reds, who have commandeered all. the' lightships. Navigation in China’s greatest waterway is thus a hazardous undertaking. Customs cruisers are leaving Shanghai to cope with the situation.