MURDER, RAPE AND LOOT LOOM LARGE IN CHINA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18092, 28 February 1927, Page 7

MURDER, RAPE AND LOOT LOOM LARGE IN CHINA.

TERRIBLE STORIES OF EXCESSES TOLD. BRITISH TROOPS KEEP WATCH IN SHANGHAI. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Aus. and X.Z.‘Cable Association. (Received Februarv 28. 11.40 a.m.) SHANGHAI, February 27. Shantung troops occupy most of the important points in and around Shanghai. except foreign territory. A large force took over control of the forts at the mouth of the Shanghai River, where the Shantung fleet has arrived in anticipation of an attack by s the Cantonese from sea. British soldiers, supported by small detachments of Italian, Japanese and French marines, continue to hold strategic points beyond the boundaries of the foreign settlements. This is vitally necessary although in contravention of the treaties, because of the hordes of defeated soldiers and civilian mobs allowed to reach the l>oundaries. Already British troops at the railway connecting Shanghai with the Sunglciang front have disarmed many deserting troops, endeavouring to seek protection in the foreign settlement. The Shanghai Council has openly declared that the Shantung men are here to protect Shanghai, yet they are known to be the worst rapists, looters, pillagers and murderers in China, ('hang Chun-chang their commander, is a notorious ex-bandit, with a shameful record of governorship of the Shantung Province, having executed editors, bankers and merchants wholesale without trial for resisting and denouncing his governmental tactics. The council therefore is taking no chances.

Already Shantung soldiers in the Chinese city have shot shopkeepers refusing to accept. worthless Shantung paper money.

Cliang Chun-chang and Sun Chuanfang together have arrived in Shanghai from Nanking. It is believed that the presence of Shantung troops on the Sung-kiang front will hold the Cantonese advance for a. few days, but will eventually crumble. In such an emergency the Shanghai defence force will be sent. This force is continuously policing the Shanghai countryside and watching for the anticipated rush of defeated troops to Shanghai, with the enemy on their heels. When this occurs scenes

similar to those described bv a Presbyterian missionary who escaped from Hang-chow, following the arrival of the Cantonese, may be expected. Ghastly Scenes. In the Chinese territory, the missionary' states, wholesale murder of antiReds by the Cantonese followed the capture of Hang-chow. Civilians suspected of northern sympathies were executed instantly. Shops and homes were looted, and huge sums, demanded from authorities in lieu of the complete sacking of the city, were paid. The missionary saw civilians with merely a northern accent trampled and beaten to death. Two hundred captive anti-Reds were lined up and slaughtered with machine-gun fire, the Reds laughing. The missionary states that several of the Cantonese wore frock coats and British rain capes, and carried Mills bombs. After the butchery, they' embarked on an orgy of looting and rape, few women escaping. Resisters were murdered. The recent warning of the British Consul to foreigners to evacuate Hangchow appears to have been timely. hearty laughter in the clerical group when the arrangements were debated. "I’m fed up of a lack of exercise, and must get a game tennis or golf right away.” declared Bishop Ingram. “What is your handicap, my lord?’* inquired a leading New Zealand Anglican. “Oh, two.” responded the Bishop of London, then, as an afterthought, as if a hi -hop must be truthful even in golf, he confessed his handicap at fourteen. A Press photographer found Bishop Ingram friendly’, for he said he was used to it. “But see that all the pillars of the church are in the picture,” he said, and promptly’ this cheery, distinguished visitor arranged a suitable front row, isolating himself momentarily. Bishop Ingram undertook to answer one serious question, and was asked to speak of immigration, one of the main subjects on which he intends to talk in New Zealand. “This country needs population,” he said. “We will send the people, and it is for you people to settle them. You must fit; them in. This has to be done carefully so as not tb increase unemployment. but you really need increased population, Australia still more so.”