More mutinous outbreaks by the unpaid soldiery have been reported from Kiangsi, Hunan and elsewhere,! shown signs of improvement; and the most serious one having taken place at Yochow, which flourishing town along the Wuchang-Changsha Railway is said to have been systematically picked clean. There were two days' consecutive burning and looting, commencing from noon on the 25th instant, according to a Hankow telegram to the '"Sinwanpao."? As long as the present mockery of a government at Peking, which is mainly composed of incompetent and greedy officials, is allowed to remain in office, nothing can or will be done beyond empty talk and paper schemes in the matter of disbanding the superfluous troops, and more mutinies will break out, as the soldiers are goaded to desperation by cold and hunger.
Dissension seems to be rife both in the Northern and Southern camps. The Chinese have evidently the knack of becoming fast and true friends in times of adversity and distress; but when their work is crowned with success, all the ugly attributes of mankind, such as jealousy, envy and hatred, are brought into play. Thus, eight officers and officials, holding high commands and positions of trust in Changsha and its vicinity, have been shot by order of General Chao Hong-ti, who accused them of treacherous actions. A commander of an expeditionary force against Kiangsi, appointed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, is reported to have been arrested and detained by order of General Chen Chiung-ming; while Mr. Tang Shao-yi is said to have fallen out with Dr. Sun and to have reached Hongkong by way of Heangshan, his native district. One report says he has returned to Canton.
Marshal Tuan Chi-jui and General Chang Tso-lin are said to have come to an understanding to the effect that the Marshal would wink at the reinstatement of Chang Hsun, the monarchist general, if Chang Tso-lin would agree to the granting of a general amnesty to all the Anfuites. This compact is thought to have something also to do with the struggle for supremacy that is fiercely waging between the Chihli Party and the Fengtien Party.
On other subjects, the Chinese Press has spoken appreciatively of Dr. Wellington Koo's services as a diplomat, but he is exhorted to do much more in gaining some material benefit for his country, his present achievement in exalting our status as a nation being considered only a gain in titular distinction. The huge increases in Japan's naval and military estimates have roused much curiosity as regards her aims, inasmuch as she did not yote such increases even during the great_war in which she participate ed. The rice situation has not since Shanghai is not the only port from which rice can be shipped abroad surreptitiously, the people in interior towns are advised by the Press to form supervising bodies to check the trade in their own places and prevent smuggling as much as they can. The majority of Chinese merchants are finding themselves in embarrassed circumstances, owing to the effects of world-wide financial difficulties. The Chinese Government and officials have nevertheless been plaguing the merchants for loans to tide over the settlement day at the close of the lunar year.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.