ADDRESS BY THE REV. W. BANISTER, On Tuesday afternoon, in the rooms of the Anglo-Chinese School Soochow Creek, the Rev. W. Banister spoke upon his experiences of the Kucheng massacre of August last, and the subsequent Commission to investigate it, of which he was a member. There was not a large attendance, no doubt in consequence of the hour fixed for the meeting, five o'clock.
The Rey. H. C. Hodges occupied the chair and in introducing Mr, Banister reminded the audience of the prominent part he had taken in the events following the terrible massacre, and the able descriptions and reports of the Commission of Investigation supplied by him to the North-China Daily News. When it was known that Mr. Banister was coming to Shanghai the occasion was regarded as a favourable one to learn from his lips any additional particulars he had to tell, but the notice at which the meeting was called was short.
The Rev. W. Banister said that although he never anticipated an opportunity of addressing a meeting in Shanghai, he was nevertheless glad of the opportunity because all in stod had fell intensely the nly from Shanghai but throughout China sympathy extended to them, not
and the world generally, showing that in the face of such a great calamity as happened last summer in Kucheng the great heart of the world beat sound and true. Having described the situation of Kuche and Whasang, where the massacre occu—places with which he was very familiar from thirteen years' residence—the speaker graphically described the terrible experience and scenes which met Archdeacon Wolfe, himself, and U.S. Marshal Hixson on their relief expedition up the Min River after the receipt of the tragic news. The meeting with the boats bringing down the survivors of the massacre was a scene which would never fade from his memory, and his description of it deeply moved the audience. Going on to describe the Vegetarians, the particular sect in Fukien responsible for the murders, he said that about five years ago he heard that a new class of Vegetarians had appeared in the district from the province of Kiangsi. They set their faces earnestly against opium, and apy to gather in all the unemployed and worthless young men of the district, whom they sought to reclaim
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.