Chang’s Vaunted Army in Flight

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 356, 17 May 1928, Page 9

Chang’s Vaunted Army in Flight

DESERTERS PAWN UNIFORMS NO FIGHT FOR PEKING (Australian Press Association) Reed. 11.5 a.m. PEKING, Wednesday . In expectation of the Southerners* arrival, all reports point to Marshal Chang-Tso-Lin quitting and retiring to Manchuria, not attemping to hold the Northern capital. The Northern armies are on tii<verge of collapse, the behaviour of leaders encouraging desertion. Thousands are pawning their uniforms anti otherwise destroying evidence of service in the Northern armies. The majority of officers, imitating Chang-Tso-Lin, are dispatching families and possessions to the sole remaining refuge from the Southerners. Manchuria. An astonishing feature of the situation is the much-vaunted armies of the Northern dictator, Chang-Tso-Lin. retreating without tiring a shot, the only shots the Southerners exchanged have been with Japanese troops at Tsinanfu. The rest have been bloodless victories. Foreign garrisons at Tientsin are speeding up defence works. Motorcycle and cavalry patrols are already operating on the outskirts. Japanese volunteers have been mobilised.

NO INTERVENTION BRITAIN AND CHINA LAND WITHOUT GOVERNMENT British Official Wireless Reed. 11.5 a.m. RUGBY, Wednesday. A question was asked to-day in the House of Commons whether, in the view of developments in the Far East, the Foreign Secretary would consider offering to the contending parties in China the good services of this country in bringing the civil war to a close. Mr. G. T. Locker-Lampson. Foreign Under-Secretar3\ replied that, while his Majesty’s Government was anxious to see the re-establishment of peace in China, any attempt at mediation would —particularly at the present juncture—be extremely delicate, and would, he feared, be misinterpreted. His Majesty’s Government felt, therefore, that it could not take any step of this nature, unless definitely invited to do so by both sides. Replying to a question in the House of Lords this evening. Lord Cushendun, British representative on the council of the League of Nations, said that Sir Austen Chamberlain had not allowed the state of affairs in China to go for so long without considering whether the League of Nations could take any part in bringing about peace, but there was no such thing as a government in China. The Nanking Political Committee had addressed a telegram to the Secretary-General of the League at Geneva, but the Political Committee was not a member of the League of Nations. At the present moment the British Government hail no locus standi on which It could support the application of the Nanking Political Committee.