RUSSIA AND CHINA.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXVI, Issue 13333, 23 March 1911, Page 6

RUSSIA AND CHINA.

A SERIOUS SITUATION. Startling Reports From The Frontier. Arms and Ammunition on the Move. ST. PETERSBURG, March 20. Three distinct problems confront the Government in dealing with the Chinese situation. Firstly, is China’s deep-seated sense of distrust and resentment roponsible for the unsatisfactory result of the negotiations? Secondly, there is an undercurrent of great discord in the Cabinet regarding the measures already taken. Thirdly, as the non-official publication of such news is a criminal offence, particular significance attaches to a guarded reference made in the Novoc Yromya, stating that there is trouble among the Russian soldiers on the Chinese frontier over the poor quality of the food sunnliod to them, and that an open outbreak was only prevented by the commander’s tact in ordering the Governor of Turkestan to take extraordinary measures to satisfy the men’s demands.

The task of the commissariat is complicated by the bad roads and dependence upon long lines of communication. During the illness of the Foreign Minister, M. Sazanoff, the Premier and his colleagues called a halt in the aggressive policy which was aimed to strategically connect the front is rat China’s expense, ..'The Novoe Yromya demands that the second Minister for Foreign Affairs, M. Nerakoff, shall replace M. Sazanoff, and detninds the Premier that the Cabinet has no right to meddle with foreign affairs, as a Foreign Minister is responsible to the Emperor alone.

Hie same paper prints a despatch from Mukden stating that- 110 tons of gunpowder, 42 boxes of cavalry, rifics, and 70 boxes of infantry rifles have been forwarded from Pekin to the Chinese garrisons, and 41 vanloads of ammunition to Kirin. Telegrams from Harbin assert that the Chinese railway employees have been replaced by Japanese,, and that huge bary racks have boon constructed at the priiP 1 cipal vantage points.