Questioned on the subject of the Japanese Concession, Mr. Simpsoa said that the Japanese behaviour in hankow had been splendid. Their concession was now a strong fantry redoubt defended by 500 ies, and the disposition of their destroyers on the river clare irisher" was such that they could rake all approaches to the concession with a storm of fire. They had not the slightest intention of resuming trade so long as the Communiste remained in Hankow: by arrangement they had opened their godowns to get rid of the 15,000 tons of cargo stored there on which the shipping company had Tls. 1,000,000 to collect; while the merchants and storekeepers: were opening to collect their Chinese accounts, which amounted to another Tls. 2,000,000. These operations, it wae calculated, by May 15. it military precautions] would not be relaxed in the slightest.
The Japanese in Hankow, Mr. Simpson said, strongly favoured the formation of an International Settlement of all the concessions in Hankow, together with the military garrisoning of Tortoise Hill at Wuchang and Hanyang Hill with for-ign infantry and artillery detachments—which would mean that the keys of the middle river would be in foreign hands and civil war would be rendered impossible in the region. They favoured an Anglo-Japanese military and naval agreement.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.