In this little development of the campaign against Tsingtao are the germs of a nasty contretemps. Whereas the Central Government is sane enough not to launch force against the Japanese there is ni telling what some of the hotspurs in the vicinity might do. There are over 6,000 Chinese troops quartered in Weihsien city—which has not, by the way, been entered by the Japanese—and the sight of Japanese troops in lesser numbers might easily lead to 'a rupture involving the use of fire arms. The Government is endeavouring to preserve tranquility, but judging by the language of some of the Shantung natives there is a tendency to foolish truculency.
The Shantung Guild yesterday petitioned the President direct, asking for deliverance from what are described as the outrages of the invaders, and in order to bring homo to the Government a full sense of the happenings in the area traversed by the Japanese a long list of alleged "outrages" is given. If a quarter of what the Shantung people say is true, it is regrettable that the Japanese commanders have not had Breater control over their men, though the Japanese flatly deny that there has been the least impro-Priety on the part of their soldiers.
They describe the tales of the tives as exaggerations and lies, spread broadcast by interested parties not only to bring the Japanese into disrepute but also to create difficulties between Japan and China and Great Britain.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.