THE CHINESE REVOLT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 98, 25 April 1912, Page 2

THE CHINESE REVOLT.

A SERIOUS POSITION. Writing on March 13th, at Canton, the Rev. G. H, McNeiir says:—“l wonder if Renter’s Agency Ims been giving the New Zealand papers any exciting cables about Canton during the past few days. Knowing the situation hero you would recognise that trouble! was inevitable before long. Tho revolutionary leaders made use of a number of robber leaders in their attempt to overthrow tho old Government. . These men brought their gangs in with them,, and since then they have been reaping the reward of their zcah and patriotism. When they came in all their arms were bought by the new Government at double their true value, and the men were enlisted in “The y Peoplc’s lArniy.” The leaders were made officers. One of these, Wong Woo-Sun, was formerly a notable brigand in Kwangsi Province. Ho led the. party that , took Woi-cliow at the revolution, and was given command of;the Wei-clipw division of the now array, having 10,000 men under his flag. But tins position hardly satisfied (him, and it is said that he aspired to the post of Governor of the Province, and was a grievous thorn in the side of , the present Governor. His was tlie last section of The People’s Army to he disbanded when the Ma nchus left the throne. But he and Lis troops insisted that they should be allowed to carry their arms and ammunition. Of course this was out of the question (even in a Republic). The loyal troops were ordered to disarm them. They resisted, and so for tho past few days lighting has boon going on. . . One hundred were reported killed and 200 wounded. Bombs were used and a number of buildings destroyed by fire. Quite a number of non-combatants are reported killed and wounded. The firing was, as usual, very wild. These soldiers simply don’t care where their bullets go. . Fighting has now ceased, and it is said that the Government has promised to pyv Hu,- men for their weapons, and on these conditions they have capitulated. One of the discouraging features about tho situation was that two other large divisions of The People’s Army, which also art' under exrobber chiefs, maintained a neutral position. From this I judged there is still more trouble ahead of the Government in disarming the tremendous and altogether unmanageable army that was gathered to take Pekin. “We. were perfectly quiet here, although, of course, we board the firing and saw the burning buildings. About 1000 soldiers were quartered near us, but fortunately they bad disbanded quietly two or three days before the outbreak. . . Wong had

threatened to implicate the 73ritir.il Government, anil so/bring about the overthrow of the Canton Government. Vie are in the* safest spot in Canton.”