CHINESE BANDITS

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 21 May 1923, Page 5

CHINESE BANDITS

CAPTIVES STILL HELD,

NEW DEMAND MADE

BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT

PEKIN, May 19

Word received by the Foreign Legations to-day lias increased expectation of the release of the captives. The Governor of Shantung telegraphed that a messenger had been sent to the bandits offering the leaders army commissions and agreeing to incorporate the entire bandit force into the Shantung army.

The Government troops in the Lincheng district are themselves beginning to murmur because their pay is in arrears, and threats have been made that the troops may join the bandits. The Government, which would agree to the bandits' demands that the Government troops be withdrawn from Shantung, is, however, powerless, because the tuchuns (military governors) refuse to permit such a withdrawal.

The Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, which represents one of the most important British communities in China, has sent a copy of a resolution to the British Government expressing horror at the bandits' detention of Britishers, and asking that action be taken to secure their release.

PEKIN, May 18,

The Government has announced that further negotiations with the bandits seem impossible. The latter have gained numerically and now demand the withdrawal of all Government troops throughout Shantung. -

WASHINGTON, May 19.

The State Department has received advice that the diplomatic corps in Pekin is sending a fresh Note demanding that the Chinese Government should withdraw troops from the bandit territory.