BRITAIN MUST ACT.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 July 1925, Page 7

BRITAIN MUST ACT.

HER FAR EAST INTERESTS. MENACE OF CHINESE STRIFE. THE INFLUENCE OF MOSCOW By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright. Received July 13, 5.6 p.m. London, July 12. The Times, in a leader, says the Chinese are not feeble folk and will not easily acquiesce in any attempt to ruin either their prestige or their trade. There is urgent necessity for firm British initiative towards China, which should not be circumvented and paralysed by Undue regard for the intricacies of the international situation. Britain has too long neglected her special advantages. She must, in the present crisis, which overshadows everything else in international affairs in immediate importance, take her own precautions. Armed intervention in Chinese internal affairs is, of course, impossible, but Britishers throughout China must be rescued and protected in an emergency. This is not a question of merely providing refugee ships. It has become, obviously, necessary to assure our naval strength in the Pacific, since the Chinese crisis, in which Moscow is deeply implicated, is only a prelude to further complications in which British Interests in the Pacific are vitally concerned. The present state of Far East affairs has an intimate connection with the discussion of the cruiser programme. We must be assured that we have at our unfettered disposal means by which Britishers and the British Far East trade can be continually protected. MUNITIONS FOR CHINA. SOVIET RUSSIA THE SOURCE. Received July 13, 11 pun. Pekin, July 13. A Japanese semi-official agency at Canton says it is reliably stated that a Russian steamer, with 1,500,000 rounds of cartridges, is en route to Canton from Vladivostock, via Shanghai. At Hankow, a memorial service was held in the Chamber of Commerce on Saturday, a month after the riots. It is understood the gathering decided on financial measures against British banks, the stoppage of commercial relatione and the calling out of employees of Britishers. The Shanghai coolies’ strike began on July 10, and a general strike is starting on the 14th inst.