IN THROES OF BOYCOTT

Taranaki Daily News, 27 November 1926, Page 13

IN THROES OF BOYCOTT

PICKETS CONTROL TIANROW

BUSINESS AT STANDSTILL

THE MILITARY POWERLESS

By Telegraph—Tress Assn.—Copyright.

Peking, Nov, 24. The Japanese residents in Hankow are facing a food crisis as the result of the rigid picketing of the markets and food shops in the concessions by the strikers. The city is in the throes of a general strike of servants, wharf coolies and the employees of foreigners, who are responsible for the picketing. Large shipments of foodstuffs are being sent from Shanghai to Hankow in response to an urgent appeab All business is at a complete standstill and shipping operations are suspended. Several overseas vessels held up are unlikely to get away for some months as the river is rapidly falling. The majority of the newspapers have suspended publication owing to the employees striking. Britons and Americans have armed themselves and are patrolling the concessions. The Chinese military declare that they are pow less to control the situation, which is in the hands of the labourers. The looting of foreign property outside the concession has commenced and riots are hourly feared. Foreign flying squads arc turning out frequently to quell the outbreaks between the mobs and foreigners, who insist on protecting their property. Bloodshed has often been narrowly averted. The larger foreign warships are leaving shortly as the river is falling, and this is causing anxiety to residents. The Yangtsze light-keepers have declared a strike in sympathy with the Reds, who have commandeered all the lightships. The navigation of the greatest Chinese waterway is a hazardous undertaking. Customs cruisers are leaving Shanghai to cope with the situation.