SHANGHAI SAFE

Wairarapa Age, 5 February 1927, Page 5

SHANGHAI SAFE

NO IMMEDIATE EMERGENCY.

FORCES ON THE SPOT. ADEQUATE TO DEAL WITH MOB VIOLENCE. (Received Friday, 8.40 p.m.) LONDON, February 4. There is unlikely to be any further development of the Chinese situation until after to-morrow’s Cabinet meeting. Meanwhile official circles consider that the position occasions no grave concern. The armies are reported to be no nearer Shanghai, and the town is in no danger of immediate attack. The residents are satisfied that the protective troops already there will be able to deal with any mob violence.

There is still hope that Chen will eventually find Britain’s terms acceptable.

Apparently the somewhat more optimistic tone to-day is due to Chen’s difficulty that he has no munitions and no money. Even if he rejects the terms he would be powerless to carry on for a prolonged period. The hope is expressed that he will eventually disregard Moscow.—(A. and N.Z.) CALM AT HANKOW. QHEN'S CONFESSION OF FAILURE SHANGHAI, February 3. Hankow is outwardly calm despite the abrupt termination of negotiations, on which all hopes of an amicable settlement had been pinned for three weeks. Chen’s declaration is regarded as a confession of his failure to win over the extremists to a moderate view. While it is recognised that Britain is scarcely likely to withdraw from the position taken up in regard, to the dispatch of troops, a possible solution of the present deadlock is seen in a suggestion which is finding favour in many quarters, namely, that the expedition should not proceed further than Hongkong. This, it is pointed out, would save faces all round, without endangering the British position at Shanghai, and at the same time give Chen and the moderates a chance to make a final bid for reasonableness on the part of the hitherto irreconcilables in the Kuomingtang.

It is also felt that Britain’s case would be made clearer and stronger if the text of the draft agreement weTe published.—(A. and N.Z.) SUGGESTED COMPROMISE. TROOPS MAY HALT AT HONGKONG. LONDON, February 3. Interest in the Chinese situation is centred to-day in the rumour that Cabinet to-morrow will consider halting the troopships at Hongkong in order to overcome Chen’s objection to negotiating while Britain is concentrating troops in Chinese territory.

Colour is given to this possibility by the report that the First Suffolks, pioneers of the Shanghai Defence Force, are disembarking at Hongkong to-mor-row. Critics of the Government’s dispatching tro-ops will be answered. The troops going out, if landed at Hongkong, will be a few hours' sail from •Shanghai. Britain will be in no worse a position than Japan, while, if a sudden crisis arose aircraft could be quickly on the spot from Hongkong. The Labour Joint Council, headed by Messrs. MacDonald, Thomas and Henderson, had a long interview with Sir Austen Chamberlain in the Foreign Office. Mr. Baldwin was present. The delegates later addressed the Joint Council, which is resuming its ■discussion to-morrow.—(A. and N.Z.) AN EARTHQUAKE OMEN. CHINESE FEARS OF CALAMITY. LONDON. February 3. The “Daily Express’s” correspondent at Shanghai in a special cable states that the earth tremors, coming at the period of the Chinese New Year celebrations, has thrown the superstitious Chinese into a state of consternation. These earth manifestations are regarded as foreshadowing a change in the dynasty and a serious misfortune to the country. With the British troops steaming towards China and the country in the throes of civil war, the Chinese fear that they are on the eve of a terrible calamity. Almost immediately after the second shock a fireworks display from thousands of sampans lying at Whangpoo, which had been kept up incessantly for two days, came to an abrupt end, and the river became as silent as death.

The general atmosphere at Shanghai at present without newspapers, with rumours running riot, is tenser than at any time since the events at Hankow. —(A. and N.Z.) INTERCESSION SERVICES. LONDON, February 3. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the President of the National Council of Evangelical Free Churches urge all clergy to hold special intercession on Sunday, February 6, for a peaceful and honourable settle ment of the Anglo-Chinese differences. —(Sydney “Sun.”) ANGLO-RUSSIAN TRADE TREATY. RUMOURED ABROGATION. (Received Friday, 8.40 p.m.) LONDON, February 4. Reports are being circulated in Russian circles in London that the British Government is contemplating the abrogation of the Anglo-Russian Trade Agreement in view of Russian interest in the affairs of the government of Southern China, but no confirmation of the reports is obtainable in authoritative British circles.—(A. and N.Z.)