CHINESE RISING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1263, 19 October 1911, Page 5

CHINESE RISING.

REBELS GAIN CROIIND. FALL OF NANKING EXPECTED, HOW THE REVOLT BEGAN, By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright (lice. October 18, 10.30 p.m.) Peking, October 18. The troops arc going south in excellent spirits. The slaughter of Nauclius at Wuchang and Hankau has censed, and tlio Eepul>licans have ordered their followers to spare all who submit to tho now Government'. A man causing a disturbance was pursued and killed in tho British concession at Hankau. Orders have been issued that nobody must enter tho concession. Parties from other warships besides tho Gorman vessels participated in the fight with tlie Hankau mob. Dispatches are being sent by wireloss telegraphy from Hankau to Tsingtau by means of the German warships' apparatus. Fall of Nanking Imminent, A revolutionary force is surrounding Klukiang, in Kiangsi, and has demanded its surrender. The fall of Nanking, the ancient capital of China, is to bo imminent. Tho French legation has learned that tho Viceroy at Nanking is missing. Correspondents in the province of Szecliuan ascvibo the origin of t'lie unrest to the Peking Government's decision concerning the Szochuan railway and the international loan. Tho latter is concerned with tho Ichang-Kweifu line, a wclion of the trunk railway on which the Chinese claim to havo spent four million taels. The railway officials and the students at the Railway School organised a spirited protest, and a deputation was unavailingly sent to Peking.

Tho People Determined. Despite its organisers' exhortations, riots, pillage, and incendiarism occurrcd in many localities, and the people everywhere showed that they were resolved not to pay taxes unless tho local company was empowered to continue to build t'ho Szechuan Railway. The situation subsequently became worse. With a view of making a flank advance on the rebels ten thousand troops are entraining at Tsinantu for Taku, and ten thousand havo been shipped to t'he Tanglszo. NORTHERN TROOPS ARRIVE.

REBEL ARTILLERY ADVANCES. JAPANESE COJirLICITT ALLEGED. Peking, Octobor 17. Admiral Sa-Cheng-I'ing has reached Hankau ou a gunboat, and assured the foix' o 'u Consuls that there will be no danger to foreign concessions when lioitilitics arc commenced. Four thousand of the northern Imperial troops, who ore well equipped, aro encamped near Hankau, awaiting reinforcements. Two thousand rebels with artillery havo crossed tho Yangtze to oppose tho Imperial troops' advance. Foreign warships are flocking to Hankau. Router's Agcncy states that tho Revolutionists aie ottering one thousand tacls for tho capture of the ex-Viceroy of \\ uohang. It is reported that Manchu women in Pelting aro changing into Chinese dress. ■ The warlike Clninchuses aro extremely active, in North Manchuria. Russian troops have been ordered to repress them. The troubles in the provinco of Szechuan continue. Tho Imperial Government affects to regard the situation in tho west as more serious than in Wuchang, owing to the impossibility of rapid transport. Tho semi-official press at Peking is endeavouring to prove that tho Japanese are at the bottom of tho revolution in Wuchang. REBELS ENTHUSIASTIC.-

DISAFFECTION IN THE ARMY. PROTECTION OP FOREIGNERS, (ltcc. October 18, 10.30 p.m.) London, Octobor 18. The "Daily Mail's" llanlcau correspondent reports that the Revolutionists ore carefully fortifying positions and enrolling enthusiastic volunteers. Numbers of the northern troops on arrival are joining the rebels. The troops at Yitan-Shih-Ivai's disposal are reported to bo disaffected and unreliable. Thousands of non-combatants airo quitting Ilankau. The British and Japanese admirals are defending the foreign concessions, and liavo thirteen foreign warships at their disposal. STREET FIGHTING IN HANKAU.

GERMANS ASSIST. , Berlin, Octobor 17. Official advices state that landing parties irein tho German warships Leipzig-, Tiger, and Yaterland, assisted by volunteers, have recruited the German residents in Hankau, who are engaged in street fighting with the Chinese mob. THE RAILWAY AGITATION.

EARLY STAGES OF THE PRESENT TliOu'BLE. A correspondent of tho London "Morning Post" wroto on September 8:— "Tho anti-Stato railway agitation in China, which has taken n critical turn in Sze-chuan Province, dates hack to the conclusion of the llukuang Railway loan last May. Tho participants in that loan, which is for «£G,UOI),OUD, are an international group of British, German, French, and American financiers, and with the money thus raised the Government of China intends to buy out the shareholders on the proposed Sze-chuan-Hankow and Hankow-Canton trunk lines, and to proceed with their construction, long delayed through squabbles, mismanagement, and extravagance. They met with opposition, however, from tho bigoted merchants and gentrv, who, although unable to get along with the work themselves, resented the interference of tho Government as a sly attempt to rob them of their money. "Tim storm of revolt first broke in Canton, where shareholders in tho CantonIlankow Railway held meetings of protest. The Viceroy Chang Ming Chi took up the matter at once, and promised to lay the grievances of the shareholders before the authorities at Peking. In the meantime tho trouble spread rapidly, and professional agitators in and out of China did their best to fan tho flame of unrest. Telegrams were sent, presumably by members of the revolutionary party, to different: parts of the country alleging that the partition of China—'tho dividing of the melon' as they called it—by the European Powers was .at hand. "Matters seemed to ho improving when towards the end of Juno the Viceroy of Canton announced the Government's intentions with regard to tho shareholders. Those who exchanged their shares for 'Government railway bonds wero to re-

demurred woro to be repaid CO per cent, of each sharp on Account and 40 per cent, jjy instalments in ten years' time. This definite statement appeared t') allay tho distrust of oflicial control, at least, in tho far south, but in Hupeh, Hunan, ami Szechnan the agilalion agninst railway nationalisation has remained morn or less active. The present situation in Chonghi might easilv bo followed by alarming developments, for the peoplo there are not too stable in temperament. A few agitators might easily turn the movement into one of a definite and dajigerous antiforeign charactir."