THE REVOLT IN CHINA.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXVI, Issue 13529, 10 November 1911, Page 5

THE REVOLT IN CHINA.

THE BURNING OF HANKOW. DAMAGE TEN MILLION POUNDS. 400,000 People Destitute. Press Association.—Telegraph.—Copyright. _ ; PEKIN, November 9. : ■ Two-thirds of’Hankow have been destroyed by fire.. The 1 lowest estiniate of the damage is 10 millions sterling. Four hundred thousand are destitute.. THE HANKOW FIRE. Many Women and Children Burned. Horrible Revelations, . Received November 10,11.35 a.m. -PEKIN, November ,9. ; Hundreds were burned- at. Hankow, including many women and children. Whole families were engulfed in the fianies. Eight Imperialists have been executed for looting. ■., Both sides have been guilty of killing the wounded. Imperialists inflicted horrible tortures and outrages bn women. ' - Canton has proclaimtuiits independence. REBELS MARCHING ON PEKIN. Nanking Captured. PEKIN, November 9/ Six thousand Lanchow troops are marching on Team, some are at Fentsstai, seven miles from the capital. Li Yuan Hang, leader of the rebels, refused Yuan Shih Kai’s conditions. He replied that the. time to discuss terms was when the Republican army was marching on Pekin. The revolutionaries, with the loss of 100 killed, captured the armoury and forts commanding Nanking. Two thousand Imperialists seceded on receipt of 300,000 taels. General Tueh Liang, upon orders- from Pekin, then yielded. ■ , ■ FINANCING THE REBELS. ■SYDNEY, November 9. Mr Sub Johnson, editor, of the Chinese Herald, declares that Bun Yet. Sen issued millions of pounds worth of Treasury notes, and that that course has contributed largely to the success of the insurgents hy"enabling them to secure an almost unlimited supply of arms and, ammunition.-: Patriots who are buying vjill be repaid if the rebels are' successful;; if not, they; will lose, but it is for a good cause, : and they will risk their lives if necessary. REVOLT DUE JO MISSIONARIES. Spread of Christianity. ■ Bun Johnson, editor of the ChineseAustralian Herald,, ascribes the present revolution in China in no small degree: to the great advance of the Christian religion in that country within the past few years. “Under the treaty with England, Artie: rica, and. other countries," said Mr Johnson, “The, authorities in China (Manchu dynasty), much against their will, are bound to protect from harm of any sort the native Christian missionaries who travel China from .end to end preaching the Christian religion. These messionaries are all . Chinese who have had the advantage of fair, and many of theirt first-class, edu-/ cation and experience of the freedom enjoyed by the people of the Western nations, and while they .preach the gospel to, their urethren, they also inveigh .strongly, againstirtlie oppression bf the masses by' the, Manchu dynasty, arid describe the freedom and methods of election representation and government of the western world. This has been going on ceaselessly and enthusiastically for a great number of years, and , gradually the eyes of the Chinese have been opened, and they are now determined to gain similar rights for themselves.- ; -“Like all other tyrants in the world’s history, the Manchu dynasty has heert trading on the ignorance and inborn fear of officialdom by the masses. The authorities would like to annihilate the missionaries, but while they preach"'the Gospel they dare not take any steps in that direction. If the missionaries were, to preach politics’alone they would be arrested and disposed of without ceremony; but their religious discourses protect them. The political teachings of these missionaries have permeated China, from end to end, and is the real source of the present rebellion against the tyrannical autocracy of the Manchu dynasty. Continuing, Mr Johnson said that the Manchu dynasty was really responsible for the destruction of .hundreds of millions of lives and hundreds of millions of pounds worth of property in China, for they for years past spent luce water on. their owiv private affairs; the revenue that should; have gone to the upkeep of dykes and embankments, with the result that tremendous floods which, had the revenue been properly applied, would have been easily prevented, had devastated the country. When .the lawful revenue gave out , they began the wholesale robbery of the railway' shareholders, which had really precipitated the present trouble.” Mr Johnson said that practically all Christian Chinese were in sympathy with the insurgents, and shortly large "meetings would be called in Sydney for the purpose of unifying the local sentiment in that direction and applying it. On November 15 a picnic will also be held at Correy’s Gardens, where the aims and objects of the Chinese Reform. Association will- be explained. The proceeds of the picnic will go to the funds of the association. “Before the present struggle is ended,” said Mr Johnson, in conclusion, “the Chinese people will have won, if not exactly a republican form, of government, at least elective representation and a freedom equal to that enjoyed by English-speaking people.”