No Cause for Uneasiness: State ment by Consul-General:
3,000 Troops 1
On Saturday some uneasiness bree led among certain residents of the French Concession as to the lequacy of the forces available for its defence, 'This was probably caused by the issue of a certain note fication, which it will be realized tad to' be issued at some time oF other and the manning ofthe barvicades in various parts of the Con-occasion, This latter commenced in the early morning, being part of cer= tain precautionary measures it was felt desirable to take in view of the contemplated mass meeting near the West Gate later in the day.
Seen this afternoon on the subject, M. E, Naggiar, Consul-Gene eral for France, scouted the idea that there was any cause for anxiety, in the French Concession. He de= tailed the forces at present aval able showing that there were some 7,000 men ready to be called upon for the defence of the Concession, Admiral Basire, who is in charge of the military defences, had pressed himself to M. Naggiay willing to accept. personal respon+ sibility for the safety of the re= sidents, and had stated that he was satisfied with what had already been M, Naggiar went on to say that there were further reinforcements Jon their way to Shanghai, yet, nevertheless should a situation arise making such a step necessary, Ade miral Basire would not have' the slightest hesitation in asking for assistance from the Defence Forces, nor would there be any delay in his doing so as he had already made known his desire to the Senior Naval Officer. M, Naggiar pointed out that the policy in the French Concession had been to work out the scheme of Jcefence as a technical matter which Idid not require extreme publicity. [Possibly because so much work had been done quietly residents failed to appreciate what had been done, though he was perfectly convinced that the authorities had taken every step possible to guard against any
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.