FORTY THOUSAND PIRATES IN CANTON.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10959, 27 December 1911, Page 2

FORTY THOUSAND PIRATES IN CANTON.

The New York Herald has received the following cablegram from its special correspondent at Hongkong:— The situation at Canton is most serious. Gambling has been resumed openly in the streets and outlawry prevails. . . Forty thousand pirates have arrived within the last two days. Many have been disarmed, but others attacked and demolished; police stations and' seized weapons. The notorious robber chiefs Luk Lan Chin and Li Tang Tung, with large followings, are patrolling the streets to the terror of the inhabitants. Thousands of robbers are threatening to attack Siukwan City, on the North River, alleging that the revolutionaries have not fulfilled their promise of payment. The Consuls have telegraphed' foreigners residing in the neighborhood to quit. A thousand revolutionaries, through a misunderstanding of language, slew one hundred Hunanese revolutionary troops in the Fatshan Theatre on Friday, the latter refusing to surrender their arms.

Fifteen hundred Yunnan soldiers, escaped from Waicliow, arrived' to-day within eight miles of British territory. They pillaged and burned villages en route, and murdered women and children. They are now surrounded by rebel forces, and fierce fighting is proceeding. British troops are assembled on the frontier to prevent an incursion of the combatants.