CHINESE CRISIS

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 December 1926, Page 2

CHINESE CRISIS

/I-,/ • . i.- \ BRITISH DOLICY RUMOURS

(Aiistfaliaii & Gable

LONDON, Dfecferiibfer 2. Diplomatic correspondents and leading writers of the newspapers appear to be puzzled by the British policy in China. The “Morning Post” hints that important developments in Britain’s attitude towards the Cantor! Revoluitioiiary Government may be expected shortly; The paper hints that d rtibdus vivefidl Will be readied, but one slroft bf the rbcogiiitioil of the new regime. The “Daily Telegraph’s” diplomatic writer says: “Not only in British, but in other quarters, the same conventional phrase is being used, viz., We are closely watching developments !’ We have now heard this refrain in relation to China for over two years. Such an attitude is strange, since the warnings from the British nationals on the spot hitherto have been justified to the hilt.” The same correspondent alludes to a desire in certain circles to recognise the Canton Government, and dispel the prejudice which characterises it as Red or Bolshevistic. AMEftIOAN ALOOFNESS ileceniber 1. America will not evbii joiii iiiiy League of Nations in China. Tliis new policy of aloofness was announced to-day, after the Cabinet held a meeting, at'which they considered the Oriental crisis. The United States Government considers the control of the Chinese Customs houses is purely a native matter, with which America is not concerned. The American naval forces at Hankow and at the other Chinese cities will be used solely for the protection of American lives and interests. They will not join either with the British or with any other nations in any propocal to prevent the seizure of the Hankow Customs by the rebel [ Cantonese Army. FOOCHOW GOES RED. PEKING, December 2. Foochow’s navy has gone over to t the Cantonese, who are expected to /■ occupy Foochow to-morrow without t fighting. I Another reverse for Sun Cliuan 1 Fang is Chiang Kaishek’s recent dec--3 laration of friendliness towards mis- > sionaries prompted the Kiukiang ! missionaries to {broadcast details of 3' outrages suffered from Chiang’s troops. Homes were forcibly entered, furniturte smashed and everything saleable, organs, sewing machines pianos, medicines, and surgical inJ struments was auctioned. All the 3 books and Bibles were burned. ' Clothes were ripped by bayonets, homes occupied by soldiers, and the owners driven out. Similar reports are received from other sources. I American missionaries in Honan prot vince have requested the Peking Legai tion to send rifles for self-defence, but 1 permission was refused by the Chin- :. ese authorities, who declared the procedure dangerous. The Hankow situation is easier, as the result of Japanese agreeing to ■ humiliating demands of the strikers. 1 Essential services are being maintaint ed. Pickets are reported to ’ have s been withdrawn from the concession. Mr. Hampson, the new missioner 1 from London, will proceed to Hankow by the cruiser Petersfield on SatI urday, ignoring Pekin, in view of the river situation. He states that he is awaiting instructions before deciding 3 on protective measures. Dissension between Wu Pei Fu and . Chang Tso Lin caused the abandon--5 ment of an attempt to recapture Wuhan cities. ONE ARMED SUTTON. An English subaltern who in a brief, L adventurous period lias made himse'f ’ one of the right-hand men of Chang " Tso-lin, tlie Commander of the “Allied Forces” in the Chinese wars, played <■■. decisive part in the ejection of the Red Army from the Nankow Pass, and in their heavy defeat, of L which news was received in August. } He is Mr. James Sutton, familiarly j known in the East as “One-Armed j Sutton,” by reason of the amputation . that the Great War cost him. From , shortly after his public school days “.Jimmy” Sutton has made one of that band ot Englishmen who rove the world in quest of excitement and fortune, who appear in odd temtories wherever trouble is brewing and courage is needed, and whose alertness, intrepidity, and capacity to escape from tight corners has engendered a legend of unfailing hick. Now this English ex-officer is in charge of Marshal Chang Tso-lin’s great arsenal at Mukden. It was chiefly by the intense artillery fire which was maintained that the Reds were driven from their positions in the Pass. Mr. Sutton, who gave special study to the Stbkes trench mortar in the war, and was something of an authority on high explosives, has now apparently become an expert on guns of every calibre. Some impressions of this hardy adventurer were given to a “Morning Post” representative a few weeks ago by a traveller who ran across him in Hankow, when, in 1921, he was on his way up-river to Chengtu. “Sutton was a keen, virile man,” said the traveller, “on the right side of 45, cosmopolitan, and yet of the unmistakable public school stamp. He was the kind of fellow you would much

rather have with than against you. “He fell in with the military at Chengtu, and was invited to make some guns for use in the strife then going ou in that region. But something went wrong with the contract, and the next eno heard was that he was with Chang in Manchuria, and had been made one of the ex-brigand’s generals. “He became supervisor of the arsenal at Mukden. It is a big concern, where hundreds of Europeans —Englishmen, Russians, Germans, and others—are employed as overseers. They say Chang has an eye for a good man anil no mercy for a bad one ; and when he put Sutton in charge of the whole crowd the marshal knew what he was doing. “In 3924 Sutton cleared a million dollars by drawing one of the big prizes in the Shanghai Sweep. But that seemed natural —Sutton and good fortune understood .each other.”