Dr. Wu Ting-fang's Statement Hongkong, April 7. In the course of a long inter-Daily Press, Dr. Wu Ting-fang view, published in the "Hongkong
"When I came to Hongkong some of General Shum Chun-hsuan's (Tsen Chen-hsuan?) friends took an absurd step. They got a lawyer in Hongkong to write to the banks in which I had placed the surplus customs' revenue, allotted to the military Government, instructing the banks not to pay out the money to me. They have been hammering at me for money and I have been doing my best to see that any money I give them, which is Government money, is properly spent. I am not going to give money for military purposes and that is just what they want money for.
"For instance when General Shum went to settle a dispute between two military commanders, he worried me for '$80,000 which he said he wanted to settle the matter. I paid that sum to him and he spent $20,000 in rewards to General Li Kan-yuen's troops to encourage them to fight. One of the banks to which the Hongkong lawyer had written informed me that they would not give me any money until I got an order from the Supreme Court. That is manifestly absurd. The money is mine. It was given me by the foreign Consuls because I am Finance Minister and because I am the only man they ili. can trust. The Mil tary Government cannot give any orders for the disposal of the money because to-day there is no Military Government or rather I an: the Military Government."——Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.