TURMOIL IN CHINA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20006, 25 January 1927, Page 9

TURMOIL IN CHINA

BRITISH PREPARATIONS. DESPATCH OF ARMED FORCES. 1 SEVEN BATTALIONS READY. PRESS SOUNDS WARNING NOTE. (Pres* Association—By Telegraph—Copytlgr.t.' LONDON, January 23. (Received Jan. 24, at 8 p.m.) There is great activity at York, the headquarters of the Northern Command, where four battalions are under orders comprising the Thirteenth Brigade, a mobile force that is not attached to any division, and the Green Howards, who have only recently returned after long service in the Far East. A total of seven battalions, apart from marines, is now standing by. “Good luck in the name of the Lord” was the Portsmouth chaplain’s farewell wish at a special church parade which was attended by the 1000 marines who are going to China to-morrow. The First Devons at Blackdown camp attended a farewell service in view of orders to be in readiness to proceed to China. The week-end announcement that British battalions have been ordered to China prompted the newspapers to sound a note of caution. The Daily Express says: “It is useless to attempt to disguise the gravity of the situation. The movements of troops and the military and naval bustle have an unhappy familiarity. We hope that nothing that is done will be done beyond the limits of precaution. War spirit Is an insidious thing. Every step now may bring a heavy reaction in a month’s time.” The Daily Herald declares; “It all sounds uncommonly like growling of the most threatening kind. The plain duty of the Government is to say what is in its mind. Our soldiers may be going to sacrifice their lives. They and the public are entitled to know —not in vague rhetorical phrases, but with the utmost clarity and precision. showed that sabre-rattling was no aid to pacific diplomacy.” A correspondent points out in the Daily Telegraph that a diplomatic step has been under consideration for some days, and therefore it should not be regarded as indicating a change in Britain’s policy whic his distinctly unmilitaristie. It is to be hoped, he says, that neither at Home nor abroad will there be misapprehensions concerning the call to the Reservists. They are merely required to bring up Ae battalions to strength. The despatch of military reinforcements of these dimensions to the Far East, he adds, is admitted to be an important move,, but it would be a mistake to regard them as a grave step. The Daily Chronicle says: "To mato anything in the nature of a big parade of military.force would be a dangerous provocation. It was one thing to despatch a strong force of marines to Shanghai, but when we hear of numerous battalions being ordered to prepare we can only suppose that influences arc at work within the Government that are intent upon ruining the plans of the Foreign Office. It is only fair that our diplomatic representatives in China should be given an opportunity of showing the Chinese that we mean what we say—namely, that our intentions are peaceful.”—A. and N.Z. Cable. AWAITING ORDERS. TROOPS ON MALTA STATION. LONDON, January 23. The Ist Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire and the First Border Regiments at Malta have been ordered to be ready to proceed to China. Officers on leave have been ordered to rejoin their regiments.—A. and N.Z. Cable. POSITION AT HANKOW. RESUMPTION OF TRADE PROPOSED. A GESTURE OF CONFIDENCE. SHANGHAI, January 23. The British Chamber of Commerce at Hankow decided that the British banking and shipping companies and the merchants should resume trade on Monday. This decision was reached after consultation with Mr O’Malley. It was felt that this would be a gesture of confidence in the Chinese, and would assist in creating an atmosphere favourable to the negotiations in regard to the British Concession which are now in progress.—A. and N.Z. Cable HUNAN PROVINCE. ANTI-BRITISH DEMONSTRATION. SHANGHAI, January 23. Advices from Siangtu, in the Hunan Province, state that there was a big antiBritish parade there on January 16. The mob fired the Asiatic Petroleum Company’s installation. The fire destroyed 2000 tins of oil and the company’s buildings, Anti-Christian agitation is rampant. Many chapels were seized and stripped of their furnishings, and Bibles and tracts were torn up.—A. and N.Z. Cable. THE JAPANESE VIEW. SITUATION NOT CRITICAL. TOKIO, January 24. (Received Jan. 24, at 11 p.m.) Japan declines the British suggestion to co-operate in a show of force in China, refusing to admit that the situation is critical. Th Government believes that battleship and a cruiser at Shanghai and several gunboats and destroyers on the Yangtse are sufficient for any probable contingency. hjp special orders have been issued to the navy, and no consular warnings have been given to the Japanese Nationals. Sydney Sun Cable.

WAR ON BOLSHEVISM. CHANG TSO-LIN’S OBJECTIVE. HINT TO BRITISH GOVERNMENT. LONDON, January 24. (Received Jan. 24, at 10 p.m.) The special correspondent of the Daily Express at Peking interviewed Marshal Chang Tso-lin, who said: “We, in Northern China are not waging war on Southern China, but we are engaged in a struggle against Bolshevism. We have 800,000 to 1,000,000 men under arms, and we earnestly hope for the moral support and encouragement of Britain.” The marshal is a wizened little figure, sft Sin in height, and far from the Mussolini style of man, but his narrow black eyes glinted with the fire of grim determination when he received the correspondent in one of the Emperor’s palaces in Manchu City. General Chang Tso-lin continued: “We are determined to wipe out all the Russian undesirables. We have the fullest evidence that the Bolshevists are supplying the Nationalsts with munitions and funds. Russian schools are springing up everywhere in the South. The British Government should realise that it is futile to negotiate with Mr Chen.” —A. and N.Z. Cable. LEAVING THE INTERIOR. AMERICAN MISSIONARIES DEPART. PEKING, January 23. American missionaries are hastening to the coast from the interior of Fukien. It is expected that the province will be evacuated in a fortnight. American women and children in the Foochow Consular District have been advised to evacuate, but only a few British have departed, •—A. and N.Z. Cable. EXPULSION OF MISSIONARIES. THEIR WORK ACCOMPLISHED. Preaching in the Balclutha Methodist Church on Sunday night, the Rev. Mr White commented on the cabled news than the missionaries were to be expelled from China, in consequence of the disturbeo state of the country. The preacher maintained that this might not be a bad thing, as the missionaries had accomplished their work. He likened their efforts, extending over a long period of years, to Paul’s establishment of the first Christian church in Europe at Philippi. The missionaries had really accomplished their work in establishing communities of Chinese Christians in so many parts of that thickly populated country, and these Chinese disciples could be depended on to keep the church alive after the European missionaries had departed.