Kiukiang, May 24, Conditions in northeast Kiangsi have during the spring got steadily worse, The bandits in the Teh-hsing district have increased in num. ber, and those in the Iyang, Kueiki, and West Wan-nien also, On April 17, the Min colliery was looted jus before pay day, and '$70,000 said to have been taken besides jewellery; eighteen of the chief men were taken for ransom, The way had been made easy by quarrel between the colliery militia and the local people over water supply, and the officer in command was away.
Early in May the militia at Hua-chiao, about ight miles from Teh-hsing, were defeated, about 40 of them killed and their rifles captured, About the same time, a larg village named Makia, whose people were old enemies of the clan to which the bandit leader in northeast Kiangsi belongs, was attacked because they would not join up. Two or three hundred were massacred, men, women, and children, and soma most brutally treated, Chongpukiai, near Makia, and about 15 miles from Loping city, where there is an iron' mine, wa also attacked, This last iner the exodus from Loping, Many hundreds, if not thousands of people from Loping and Wannien "ro taking refuge in Jaochow, where rents have gone up exorbitantly, and many are living in boats hired by the month.
'Tehhsing city is nearly empty, and the official and wealthy busines: people are said to have vacated on May 8, 9, and 10, Its military defenders' have moved down to Loping, where the soldiers have also been reinforced by troops from Kiukiang. That place is therefore somewhat of a defence to Jaochow.
The safety of the latter is also increased by the absence of hills near t, and the Poyang Lake on the west and south, thus affording no cover for the bandits. The hills north Jaochow and Tuchang, however, are harbouring a large number of them. ind Kiukiang also allows cama quickly to ite The scarcity of rice is the problem at present. Many peasants raid to plant it, owners in the country who have not been plundered are afraid to bring it out, and cannot transport it to the city, and rice producing districts are not exporting it.
The general outlook is bad, for even if troops who have gone to fight against the northern Allies return, it will take them considerable time to put down these bandits, and considerably more zeal, and activity than they have hitherto displayed.
Even the important district around Kiukiang and the Kuling foothills is overrun with these gentry. Only this week one of the stations on the Nanchang railway was attacked again, and nearer, Kiukiang at Shebo, the first station on the line, come of a fight in which the "lien-chang" of the troops stationed there was killed, The railway officials at the station here got seared and came on to the ex-British Concession, later S.A.D, and now the Gth police district, for protection and shelter, Even officials like to get somewhere near a foreign gunboat in times of danger.
Takutang on the Poyang Lake has been attacked and two Chinese Customs officials carried off, $5,000 being asked for their release, and if money is not paid the place is to be burned, As to Kuling, one dares not pro-phossy, but there are quite a few Safer places, even in China,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.