It seems, however, that John Chinaman is not quite so enthusiastic as the Japanese, who have undoubtedly sustained a little cheek la.onnection with the negotiations conducted by Mr. Z. Yasuda with Viceroy Chang Chih-tung for the purchase of four mills in Wuchang belonging to the latter. The Southern Viceroy is said to have proposed to borrow 600,000 taels from the Japanese—capitalist, without any—interest, for the ie. Yasuda in return the use of the mills, eried of twenty-three years. He offered but he wanted him to pay rent for the use of the machines, Mr. Yasuda, on his side, suggested that he should invest one million yen in the business, which should be run jointly by Chang Chih-tung and himself, on the understanding that not only the profits but also the losses—if there were loses—should be divided between the two parties.
According to the Peking correspondent of the Tokio Asashi," Wang Wen-shao sent a dispatch to Viceroy Chang at this juncture advising him not to sell his mills to the Japanese, Wang said that he had always been very pleased with the Viceroy's eagerness to. develop the commerce and industry of his native land, but that, taking into consideration the future interests of the Chinese Empire as a whole, he could not approve of the sale of the mills to Mr. Yasuda. He therefore advised the Viceroy to decline Mr. Yasuda's offers, whatever they might be.
Whether on account of this alleged communication or not, the Viceroy and Mr. Yasuda failed to come to an agreement, and the negotiations have been broken off. Mr. Odagiri, the Jap"nese Consul-General in Shanghai, has been asked to look "fter the interests of Mr. Yasuda if the negotiations are re-opened.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.