IN NORTH CHINA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 277, 27 November 1935, Page 7

IN NORTH CHINA

AUTONOMY MOVEMENT COLLAPSE REPORTED t’B;- Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright! Received Nov, 26, 5.5 p.m. SHANGHAI, Nov. 25. The autonomy movement seems, as it were, to be progressing on one leg. Hardly had the Nanking Government characterised the autonomy proclamation as high treason and begun to contemplate elfective measures short of armed force to punish the culprits when a message from Tientsin announced the collapse of tne movement in that city. The leaders had telegraphically asked the Japanese authorities to despatch an armed forced to North China to suppress Communist influence, but the Japanese after consultation, resolved to hold its hand in the interests of peace, on which the local rebellion collapsed in the face of the hostility of the populace, who mobbed headquarters and jeered at the guards until the Chinese police restored order and induced the autonomist volunteers, who apparently were mostly coolies hired for a promise of lOd a day Co evacuate the town hall and other public buildings. The guards, who earlier had been parading the city distributing autonomist arm bands to coolies, dolled their uniforms and disappeared or were escorted to safety. The demonstration had its comic side. A separatist, exhorted by a Japanese gendarme' to maintain tne true revolutionary spirit retorted: “How can we when we are hungry and penniless?” Gendarmes promptly struck him, upon which he tore oil his separatist uniform. His companions, scenting a general strike, cried out: “How much do we get?” “Tenpence a day,” replied the gendarme. So far the volunteers have not been paid. Nevertheless the autonomous Government is functioning at Tung Show, where Yinffjukaug has ratified the proclamation, declaring that he could muster 100,6000 riflemen, eliminate the Kuomintang dictatorship, take over all taxes besides a portion of the Pekin-Mukden railway up to the point where the Japanese are building barracks. Alartial Jaw has been declared in Shanhaikwan, where large Japanese forces are massing. Yingjukang meanwhile pledges himself to maintain peace and safeguard British interests. The Times’ Peking correspondent says that General Doihara has returned hither, causing the Chinese to fear his advocacy of autonomy may alienate not only the north, but other parts of China, until * hli v country is under Japanese "J.'Xe