Secret Societies in China.

Manawatu Herald, 26 March 1898, Page 3

Secret Societies in China.

The decapitaiion of the German marine who was standing sentry in a village just outside Kiao-chau has, it is said, " disturbed " the authorities in Berlin. They are exceedingly well informed about the district, which they have placed under official microscope for some years past, and may be perfectly right in their annoyance. The murder might be the work of any Chinese rough, but the decapitation suggests that one of the secret societies of China objects to the Germans in Tr{ »« -hau. In that case the Ger--\tnv - " **««« their man authorities tney u .,w .. work cut out for them, and had better consult the Government of Java as to the course they ought to take. The latter are oftefc worried by their Chinese subjects, and have we believe, some rather strange laws passed to enable them to deal with the societies. Even we havo been grave danger at Singapore onoe or twice from the wr . th of the " Hoeys," and have owed our security to the Chinese perception of the fact that from the position of the island escape from shells would be exceeed iagly difficult. Buling a Chinese distriot against the will of its inhabitant 3is one of those things which look easy, but drive the very ablest to despair. The Chinese do not fight, but somehow the mortality in the ruling caste is apt to grow to a height which science cannot explain. -