MASSACRE OF THOUSANDS

Taranaki Daily News, 15 September 1927, Page 9

MASSACRE OF THOUSANDS

GREAT SLAUGHTER IN CHINA to THOUSANDS OF VICTIMS AGE AND SEX DISREGARDED By Telegraph— Tress Assn.—Copyright. ’Peking, Sept. 13. The vernacular Press reports the wholesale massacre of the notorious Reel Spear bandits and members of the Heavenly Gate Society by soldiers belonging to the forces of Feng-Yu-Siang, the Christian general. This was a reprisal for several soldiers murdered -by bandits. Northern Honan refugees declare that the massacre was unprecedented in recent years, and was carried out without regard to age or sex, the victims including the wives and families of bandits. Estimates, which place the killed at between 30,000 and 80,000, are probably exaggerated. Further riots at Hankow were prevented by the arrival of military reinforcements from Wuchang, which are now engaged in rounding up the Communists, Shanghai, Sept. ’3. Notwithstanding persistent anti-Jap-aneee agitation in Mukden, culminating in an assault upon a Japanese policeman by the Chinese, also the tearing down of th© Japanese flag on the occasion of the celebration of the birth of the Princess, the army authorities in To'kio decided to follow the policy hitherto adopted, and to take no repressive measures, depending upon the authority of Chang-Tso-Lin, They presented a strong protest. JAPAN’S CHINA POLICY. AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT. Tlie following is a statement made recently by the spokesman of the Japanese Foreign Office in Tokio“Rumours have been current lately that the Japanese Government is about to take string steps in Manehuria and Mongolia, but all such are merely idle reports based on the conjectures of the various newspapers. It is a matter of deep regret to us if such reports have given rise to suspicion in either home or foreign circles. Manchuria and Mongolia are purely Chinese territories, and we desire to make it clear that Japan is only striving, whenever any untoward event occurs, to protect and maintain her various rights and interests based upon treaties.

“It is also a fundamental mistake to conjure up various imaginations regarding Manchuria and Mongolia as dependencies of Japan. It has been surmised that the South Manchuria Railway Company will be given wider authority, but. it should be remembered that this is not the age of the British East India Company, and it is a perfectly anachronistic idea that a private company should be invested with administrative powers.

“The Japanese Government has not the slightest intention of giving to the South Manchuria Railway Company even police authority. The report is being spread, and exaggerated, that Japan intends to lay a network of railway lines in Manchuria and Mongolia. Although this thorny question has already been repeatedly brought up on various occasions there is no reason in the argument that Japan has an unlimited right to construct railway lines freely on Chinese soil.

“In short, the Japanese Government cherishes no other desire than the sincere wish to see the re-establishment of stable conditions in 'Manchuria and Mongolia, and to contribute toward the pro-, motion of both the Japanese and the Chinese interests in these regions, regarding the economical development of the regions as the principal object in view, and acting in conformity with the principle of ‘open door and equal opportunity.' ’