Following are some extracts from a lengthy communique with regard to the bandits at Tsingtao, sent out by the Japanese Consulate-General there and received through the Eastern News Agency It is a fact well-known to the public that bandits have over-run the province of Shantung. It is also @ matter of common knowledge that the Chinese authorities have failed thoroughly to subjugate these freebooters, who are in possession of arms most of which have been directly or indirectly furnisbed by Chinese Government soldiers. Having been assured that the Chinese military guards in Shantung were not to be relied upon, the populace in the province were compelled to devise some self-protection measures against the bandits. The step taken by the populace was that every village, or the wealthy classes of the province, made their representatives join the bandits, thereby expecting to secure the safety of the villages or individuals. This has caused the influence of the bandits in Shantung to expand more than ever.
With regard to the bandits in the neighbourhood of Tsingtao, there are those who are maliciously circulating rumours that the Japanese military authorities have been either protecting these outlaws or endeavouring to further their influence, but these rumours are absolutely without foundation. The Japanese military authorities at Tsingtao devised measures for the control of these bandits. It is true that some leading Chinese mer-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.