Within the past few days rumours lof war have been reaching Shangjhai_ from Mukden, and it is significant that from Kaifeng in nan they are now being corroborated. Nobody has seriously believed, in spite of all the work that politicians engaged in reconstruc-ition conferences have done, that the cessation of hostilities between rival militarists has been more than usual breathing space which armies land peoples require in their wars, land sooner or later a clash was, [pound to occur. In spite of pious declarations of @ purely defensive alliance, the Chikungshan conference iwas ominous, and matters became. more so in view of the news from IMukden. Chang Tso-lin, the news, from there ran, knew that sooner or later he would have to fight, but he wanted money to finance the and this the har-give him. The it would im about 60 millions in cash, {this "would help him enormously. For this very reason the other side, Feng Vu-hsiang & Ca., resolved that Ihe trial of strength must come off Jsooner, and there are now reports {from "reliable sources in Kaifeng, \that within 10 oF 20 days troops will be on the move, and if so the Peking-Hankow and the Lunghai Railways Imay have their normal trafic completely disorganized. If all this is true, the eastern border of Honan where it marches with Shantung, Is the likely scene of operations, " the {two main points being Changieh in the northeast and Kueiteh, to the southeast of Kaifeng. Seemingly there is a distinct tenseness in the situation, and a good deal of speculation is rife as to the possibilities. In this connexion attention is being given to Chang Tso-lin's munition ment, and already reports have reached Kaifeng that he hasan improved light trench mortar which ladds considerably to his fighting The fact that Kaifeng fakes an interest in. such develop-Jments and has intelligence of them shows how great are the " strides made in the capacity of the Chinese lannies in recent years.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.