ANXIETY IN DUNEDIN

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 148, 26 June 1925, Page 5

ANXIETY IN DUNEDIN

POSITION OF MISSION WORKERS

THE GEOGRAPHY OF CANTON,

(BX TELBORAPH.—SPECIAL TO THE POST.)

DTJNEDIN, This Day. ' In and about Canton, which is one of I the centres of the alarming unrest so ' .widespread at present in China, thereare twenty-four adults and some six chil dren under the .jurisdiction of the Foreign Missions Committee of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. Most of these missionaries are well known personally m Dunedin, and considerable anxiety is felt as to their position. From inquiries made at the office of the Foreign Missions Committee, it was~ascertamed that no cablegram has come through from the mission staff, and under ordinary circumstances this would mean there was nothing of a serious nature to report. Account has to be taken however, in this case; or tho possibility that the missionaries have been unable to dispatch a message. The Shameen, which means "sand flats," is a British and French concession, right on tho point ot a bend m the river, and. according to I a recent message, all the women and children hav e been sent away from the Shameen for greater protection at Hong Kong. Just across the river at Fonit Uiueu tho Presbyterian Mission has two bungalows and a small permanent staff but the headquarters of the mission, with tho hospital ,and boarding schools, is at Kong Chuen, on the railway line 13 miles north of Canton. There'arc otherr Stationed in smaller; outlying villages. . SINISTER NATURE OF OUTBREAK , Those well acquainted with China take ! a very serious view of the present outbreak. The sinister features ■of it are ' its secrecy and its very widespread char- I acter. The last letters to hand from I Chma indicated that affairs were perfectly peaceful, but this sudden outbreak of anti-foreign violenc B must have been long in preparation. There is every reason to believe it has been carefully fostered by German and Russian agents. These nations do, not possess separate concessions like the other European Powers, and for that very reason they ■ are more closely in contact with the .Chinese people, and have ample opportunities for secret propaganda. In the last fighting about Canton the lives and property of the missionaries were always respected by both contending parties, but the great difference about the present situation is that while that was a matter of internal strife, this is directly an antiforeigii movement. . ■. ;.