CIVIL WAR

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 11 June 1936, Page 7

CIVIL WAR

PREPARATIONS IN CHINA TROOPS ON THE MOVE CANTON AND NATIONAL GOVERNMENT (United Press Association— By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Received 11th June, 9.20 a.m.) NANKING, 10th June. China is preparing for civil war. An advance guard of the Canton army occupied Hengehow. Trains crowded with National Government troops are leaving Hankow for Changsha, 100 miles north of Hengehow. Banking circles are nervous. Fear of war caused heavy buying of Hongkong dollars. APPEAL FOR ABANDONMENT MILITARY PREPARATIONS UNITED FRONT AGAINST JAPAN SHANGHAI, 9th June. Marshal Chang Kai-shek has appealed by telegraph to Kwantung to his leader, General Chen Chi-tang, to abandon military preparations declaring that China’s existence must not be gambled on a monetary impulse. Independent action, he points out, is useless, and national salvation must be achieved by the concerted efforts of the entire people. Opinion at Nanking doubts the sincerity of the anti-Japanese jingoism of the Kwangsi generals in view of their recent close association with Japan. Business is at a standstill in Canton. NOT BEING TAKEN SERIOUSLY MOBILISATION OF TROOPS (Received 11th June, 12.20 p.m.) LONDON, 10th June. Troop movements continue, it is reported, in the Chinese province of Hunan, but forces of the Central Government at Nanking and the South China Administration are still separated by the southern Hunan mountain. Experts at London do not believe civil war is imminent. The British Consul at Chang-sha provisionally warned Britons to evacuate southern Hunan. The British gunboat Scareb left Hankow for Chang-sha. The capture of Hengehow is regarded as unimportant. The Shanghai correspondent of “The Times” says the much advertised mobilisation of military forces at Kwangtung and Kwangsi for the purpose of resisting Japanese aggression is not yet being taken seriously anywhere in China or even in Japanese circles, where the declaration of the 1 south-west Council is regarded at least only as a new slogan.