BOLSHEVIK MANIA

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12615, 27 November 1926, Page 5

BOLSHEVIK MANIA

ALARMING SPREAD IN CHINA FOREIGNERS IN PERIL IN HANKOW MOBS BEGIN LOOTING By Telegraph.—Press Assn.*Copyright, Australian and N.Z Gable Association. PEKING, November 23. The Japanese residents of Hankow are facing a food crisis as the result of rigid picketing of the Concessions, markets, and food shops by strikers. The city is in the throes of a general strike of servants, wharf coolies, and foreigners’ employees, who are responsible for the picketing. Large shipments of foodstuffs are being sent from Shanghai to Hankow in response to an urgent appeal. All business is at a complete standstill and shipping operations are suspended. Several overseas vessels are held up, and are unliketv to get away for months, as the river is rapidlv falling. Tho majority of the newspapers have suspended publication, owing to the emnloyees striking. British and American residents have armed themselves and are patrolling

the Concessions. The military declare that they are powerless to control the situation, wliicii is in the hands of the labourers. Looting of foreign property outside the Concessions has commenced, and riots are every hour feared. Foreign flying squads are turning out frequently to quell the outbreaks between the mobs and foreigners who insist on protecting their property. Often bloodshed has been narrowly averted. The larger foreign warships will shortly bo leaving owing to the river falling, and this is causing anxiety to the residents. The Yangtse River lightkeepers have declared a strike in sympathy with the Reds, who have commandeered all the lightships. Navigation in China’s greatest waterway is thus a hazardous undertaking. Customs cruisers are leaving Shanghai to cope with the situation.