WARFARE IN SHANTUNG.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19929, 24 April 1928, Page 11

WARFARE IN SHANTUNG.

SIEGE OF THE CAPITAL. FALL NOW INEVITABLE. EVACUATION OF FOREIGNERS. JAPANESE PREPARE DEFENCE. Australian aad N.Z. Press Association. (Received April 23, 5.5 p.m.) SHANGHAI, April 22. All foreigners at Tsinan, the capital of Shantung, are evacuating the city at the orders of their Consuls, and are hastening to the port of Tsingtao. Tho latest war despatches state that the Southerners are following up their earlier successes and although they have not yet captured Tsinan the precautions taken by the various Consuls and by the Japanese indicate that its capture is inevitable. The vanguard of a Japanese mixed brigade has arrived at Tsinan, where it is preparing the defences of the Japanese quarter.

A possible double danger in the present situation may arise out of the demoralised state of the Northern troops. The majority of the missionaries have evacuated Tsinan and gone to Tsingtao. A most significant report comes from the battlefront to the effect that Marshal Chang Tsing-chang, Military Governor of Shantung, who is commanding the defeated Northern forces, has sent his family to Tsingtao. He has also deposited £700,000 in foreign banks in preparation for bis own flight.