The Bandits of Honan public, to-day the first General survey of conditions in Honan as seen by a special corres-Pondent whom we despatched to that province some weeks ago. For least four years Honan has been the special victim of outlaws. Its Position has peculiarly exposed it to the evils of divided authority and at the present time it appears possible to say without exaggeration that the brigand forees roving! ud pillaging number—several thousands. So far from any check upon them being attempted the soldiers, if not actually in league with the outlaws, appear careful to Keep out of their way and when they go in nominal pursuit, they levy a full toll on the unhappy villages through which they pass. In the early days of the Republ the meteoric enregr of White Wolf was the talk of all'China. Now, the miseries of Honan pass almost unobserved outside the province. Yet the brigands of to-day are not only more numerous but far more ferocious than those of White Wolf.
When sent off to Honan, our corres. pondent was specially instructed not to indulge in fine writing, to eschew] sensationalism, to report only what he saw and what he could learn from trustworthy witnesses, The Canton Stranglehold How the Red stranglehold on shipping is effecting its deadly ness, working from Canton out wa is told in a lettor_ just received in Shanghai respecting one of the steamers trading to the southern port, The ship in question is Chinese owned, but for fear of her being used for any purpose atier than Canton has in its mind, the whole crew were taken off on reaching this destination, After arrival at anton the motor boat of the Seamen's Union came alongside, economy descended upon the country and the Admiralty were forced to do the best they could. with inferior ships at their disposal to send to foreign stations. In the opinion of Commander Marsden, another ship would have weathered the storm. Fortunately in more recent years this state of affairs has been largely remedied. On the China station this is increasingly evident, and we are seeing here some of the best and most efficient vessels, in the service. It would be more than unfortunate were the fighting efficiency of the navy to be sacrificed {to economy in organization, "Learning" the Troops Nothing is so interesting as the new broom sweeping clean, and we jean see it even in such austere circles as the Shangtai Volunteer Corps. While it is not our bu ness to probe into the internal working of the various units of this organization, there are times when the correspondence passing between members on official duty de-Tights the eye and lifts soldiering' out of the drab conditions of peace time into the sparkling lustre of Jwar. One of the units of the Corps is the happy possessor of an dividual who combines the duties of} onerary secretary. with those of company quartermaster-sergeant, and how he "learns" the troops under this care is well exemplified by a letter which we publish below.
was addressed to an elderly but} still enthusiastic member of the unie, who, having been at Hone on leave, announced to the C. Q. B.
in his capacity as honorary secretary, that he had returned, was rejoining the company, but that he had changed his address. The following was the reply:— your letter of even dat ud has noted receipt and those aboard her, armed with) Yih vel, trivial mat with euch trivial matters as the \ad-revolvers, cleavers and butcher ffowever. nd"'we have: to nut ap with Knives, began their work, In al ark ignorant recruits, 1 wil put your place such as that there could be ever through" the. no resistance, and the crew had sith" aa ible rod to leave the ship, certain of the] members being tied up with ropes.
Stoutd be riven to "ati 'Your' Supceis? respect, ete, telephone message was sent to ranks such ts QMS. when on parede—tive Union, -but, there was " refus your own inform to deal with the matter by tel gee, Fon should possible ati the way" pleace don't sol phone, and accordingly two of te) m agit MY Pleice don't sell foreign oticers called personally to seo the officials, making the request that in the ense of fire aboard ship a donkeyman, a fireman and two quartermasters should be loft, with one cook and one boy to attend to the Europenn staff. Ultimately, bur only after much difficulty, this was agreed to, but instead of the Ningpo members of the crew who sailed from Shanghai, Cantonese were put aboard, At the same time it was learned that all the Ningpo ave been gaoled as strike This shows how serious 10 said "that Shanghai was] /gctting mouldy? Certainly nobody, after reading a letter showing how one company of the Volunteers gets after its men in such a thoroughly businesslike fashion, Tue cruiser Durban, which thea recently return: d home after five years on the China Station, and is well remembered as a popular ship had a curious experi-should make er an matters have become for the Chinese companies trying to carry on the business of shipping in these waters, and it is no surprise that the China ' Merchants should feel that the any cour open to them is to suspend sailings. It may be added that the danger to ships in the Yangtze is equally great, if not greater, for there troops on board refuse to take any advice given by the officers regarding smoking while the men are lying among straw and other inflammable bedding. In fact, the answer to any protests is sen
muzzle, erly the presentation of a revolver
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.