CRISIS AT SHANGHAI.

Wairarapa Age, 7 March 1927, Page 5

CRISIS AT SHANGHAI.

CANTONESE ONSLAUGHT EXPECTED.

BRITISH DEFENSIVE MEASURES. A DISTURBING RUMOUR. (Received Sunday 5.5 p.m.) SHANGHAI, March 5. The Cantonese are steadily surrounding Shanghai. .The Shantungites, threatened with severance from the Nanking base by the approach of the Cantonese, are aiming at the seizure of b°th railways leading to Shanghai and the general strike is regarded as certain when the Cantonese launch their attack. The authorities are preparing emergency staffs for vital services. The British force is entrenched, on the railway embankment approaching the settlements. The crisis is expected in from three to five days.

The United States marines, thirteen hundred strong, had their first march through the streets of the settlement tfi-day and returned aboard the ships, as at present there is no room, to billet them ashore. Additional troops are leaving Hong Kong for Shanghai iii view of the looming crisis. A later message states that persistent reports that Chang Teun Chang and Chiang Kai-Shek have reached an agreement providing that there shall be no opposition to the southern forces ■occupying Shanghai, require confirmation.—(A. and N.Z.)

ALLEGED TRESPASS.

BY BRITISH DEFENCE TROOPS. A PRO FORMA PROTEST. SHANGHAI, March 4. Hsu-yuan, Chinese Commissioner of Foreign Affairs at Shanghai, has addressed a letter to the Senior Consul strongly protesting against the stationing of British troops outside the Settlement boundaries and asking for their immediate withdrawal. The protest is regarded as a proforma affair dictated by Hsu-yuan's desire to keep in favour with the southerners. A Soceny steam launch belonging to the Meifoo was commandeered by Chinese soldiers and taken down stream. The American admiral, who was notified of the seizure, dispatched sixty marines to follow the launch, which they overtook five miles away. The Chinese soldiers, although armed, did not fire and surrendered the launch to the marines.—(A. and N.Z.) (Socony is an abbreviation for the Standard Oil Company, and is the name given to a number of tugs. The Meifoo, registered at Shanghai, is a Stanclard Oil tanker of 900 tons for carrying bulk petroleum.)