UNREST IN CHINA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 1 December 1926, Page 5

UNREST IN CHINA.

. POSITION AT HANKOW. BRITAIN MAY INTERVENE. Press Ajsociation-Eleeu io Telegraph-Copyright. LONDON, Tuesday. In the House of Commons! Mr Ramsay MacDonald inquired what was Die position at Hankow. Sir Austen Chamberlain, the Foreign Minister replied that it is generally easietr, though the general strike has made great progress. Mr H. W. Looker (Con.) inquired: 1 ‘ Will the naval forces be strengthened, in view of the fears of an outbreak involving bloodshed ? ’ ’ Sir Austen Chamberlain: We are at present discussing the matter with the Admiralty. A SERIOUS POSITION. (Received Wednesday, 9.10 a.m.) LONDON,' Tuesday. The “Daily News” states that besides the China squadron, there are numerous international warships off Hankow. The fact remains! that Hankow is 000 miles from the coast., while the Yangtsze never \vill fall in the next three months.

The 700 foreigners, at Hankow are a nitre handful among a population of a million.

A high authority in China says that mere rescue measures are insufficient. If Britain yields H ankow, she must yield Shanghai, and Tienstin, which would lead to disaster.

Mr Gull, secretary of the British Chambers of Commerce, has arrived in London. He says that a member of the Cantonese Cabinet recently informed him that the Cantonese were aiming at the control of the whole of China, and were determined to deprive foreigners of treaty rights obtained in 1842. They were anti-British because they believed that Britain was the chief obstacle to their aim. They would not abandon their Bolshevik connection until the other foreigners were ousted. The Bolshevik menace in China was very real, and at present greatly under-rat-ed. The present trouble in Hankow was foretold to him by a Cabinet member. The* Cantonese believed that the complete paralysis of trade and industry in Hankow, and later in Shanghai, was! their most effective weapon. Britain should continue to be ready to negotiate, ■ but ought simultaneously to make plain that she is determined to defend her subjects rights. —Sun.