UNREST IN CHINA

Otago Witness, Issue 2935, 15 June 1910, Page 25

UNREST IN CHINA

PEKING, June S. Reuter learns that owing to disaffection pniongst the provincial troops the Government has ordered the removal of th| breech-blocks and rifle-bolts, and has de> spatcbed loyal troops. It is considered that this reduces th# possibility of a dangerous rising. For days the cablegrams have been hinting at a China peril, a rising which will be anti-dynastic in object, but almost certainly anti-foreign in its collateral if not in its main issue. Foreigners in Nanking are urged by their consuls to quit. Apparently the peril is serious, and this view is strengthened when one considers the amount of inflammable material that exist* in China. Some little time ago Mr F, A. MTCenzia thus summed up the position: “To understand: the situation in the 18 provinces today, it is necessary to remember that since the Boxer rebellion cf 1900 China, has systematically attempted to adept tha Western ways. The education 1 of official® has been changed, modern learning largely taking the place of Confucian classics. Schools for Western teaching, started by the Government, are springing up everywhere, and in many cities idols are being: bundled out cf the temples to make room - for maps and blackboards. Railways are being planned and built on a larger scale than in a.ny other land outside America. Life in the cities is being- revolutionised, modern police methods adopted, and prisons reformed. The ecresumptioir of opium is being fought. A new army, drilled on Western lines, has sprung into being. A powerful newspaper press ha# appeared, almost in a night. Much, of course, remains to be done. Many -abuse# survive, and the corruption or weakness cf local officials often wrecks admirable schemes. But the amount that has been accomplished is amazing.