JAPANESE ATROCITIES.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3317, 22 October 1919, Page 5

JAPANESE ATROCITIES.

HEAP OF R-OA-STED BODIES. WAR PREDICTED. ' < FREMANTLE, Oct. 11. Captain J. Tholll}_)SOll,,_ of the steamer Chefoo, which has arrived from the Far East, is" of the ,opinio7n that Japan and America will be at war within eighteen months, and that is the opinion of most people in China. ' The relations between ‘China and Japan had been strained almost to the Ureaki-ng point, ‘he added; but? the Japanese had inaiijtained the upper hand through the influence of the military party in the Pekin Government. ' Describing atrocities he -had witnessed, he said that at Tusan, in Korea, he was horrifiied to find that the one Cliristian church it possessed had been razed, and among the smouldering debris were heaped several hundred roasted bodies_ In a neighbouring township Japanese had made a wholesale massacre of Korean students. They had disbanded the schools, imprisoned the teachers, drove the students into the streets, and mowed them down with n:ac}line—guns, under the pretext that they were connected with the independent movement.

A great number of Koreans had fled r'=o the church, which was set on fire. The reason for the massacre, so far as he could ascertain, was the Japanese desire to obtain possession of the rice fields. The ‘Chinese quite realise that the Japanese will filch Shzmtun-g, the same as they did Korea «and Formosa. Chinese in Shanf-ung had paraded the streets calling upon ihe Government to save their counhy. In Peking they wanted to interview the President; but numbers of them were shot. down by the Chinese police, whose instructions were supposed to have enl-a.nia.ted from apm.

Merchants then collabel-ated with stud;ents'in the -‘organisation of a. general strike. ‘EA-verything was at .a~-st»a.nd-still. The. Chinese ‘v,vit-hdre_-W , ._their money from the Japanesee banks,’ and tons of Japanese geodg wer_e ‘burnt in the .IcentVr'e of the _Sha.ngh‘a_i’ 'jstr:,et.é. Thjtvee }lap_anese -terpedo boats‘ and :5. cruiser arrived, and wanted ‘to land‘ an ‘armed guard; but the troub‘.3 subesided without this being done. At .he present time untold‘ acts -of bru’s::.li‘,y are committed under an organised cr-:1. trol.’ The boycott of Japanese goyis continues. . Captain ’l‘hompson said he was rather surprised to see Australia and New Zea:ard so passive ‘over the I\{al:-shal’. -and Caroline Islands settlement, and apparently somebody is be: mur.«__); due for a rude awakening. Japanese are shipp:'ng hundreds of fen.-3 of cenuen‘. and many aeronlaues to rhzs: i.=~.::.n*ls, and he 1.1!0ug11t this act'~-ity w;.s hardly for the purpose of tilling the soil.