THE CRISIS IN CHINA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11564, 30 January 1901, Page 5

THE CRISIS IN CHINA.

CHINESE DEMANDS. CONTROL OF THE RAILWAYS. APPALLING FAMINE. THE SUPPRESSION OF PIRATES. By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright. London, January 25. China has demanded possession of public buildings, the cessation of expeditions, and the early withdrawal of troops. The Ministers replied that the mere acceptance of the principle of the Allies' demands was insufficient. j The guilty must be punished before withdrawal was considered. London, January 26. Dr. Morrison, the Times' corespondent, states that Britain will withdraw her objections to Russian conditions connected with the transfer of the Shanhaikwan railway to Germany. Our position does not inspire confidence. I

When the Lusan railway, under French protection, is completed in 1906 there will be a continuous sys-

tem of railways between Manchuria and the Yangtse exclusively under Russian-French control.

The famine in Shansi is appalling. London, January 24.

A French soldier has been sentenced to five years' imprisonment for drawing his bayonet on an Australian doing police duty at Tientsin. Brawls are of frequent occurrence there.

The British warship Plover, on the China station, was sent to the Elliot and Blonde Islands, to suppress pirates.

She captured a number of junks. Admiral Alexieff protested against the. action as unwarrantable, as the islands belonged to Russia.

Admiral Seymour has referred the matter to the Home Government.