Hankow, Sept. 12.
Following up the action taken Monday, the Bureau of Works of the Hankow Municipality invaded tthe compound of Messrs. Butterfield Swire again yesterday. The workmen were accompanied by an armed guard, which is not usually deemed necessary when a civil authority is) making a technical assertion of its rights as against private company. 'The attack was again directed on the garage, which is a small concrete building situated close by the gate of the compound. The men' were evidently not accustomed to dealing wit well-constructed reinforced concrete, but they did enough damage to stand as a second challenge to the rights of the British company. Needless to say, the company made no attempt to interfere with the workmen, since the matters at issue are no longer a matter for friendly discussion with the local authorities.
The local Public Utility Bureau announced some little time ago its intention of taking back the concession granted by the former Municipalities of the British and Russian Concessions to the Hankow Light & Power Ca., Ltd., to-operate in those areas. The argument in the Chinese press is that, as the roads in these two concessions have now been taken back fron the foreigners, the right to put up standards and run the cables and wires belongs to the Chinese Municipality. The Chinese company which operates in the city has been approached on the question of supplying tight and power in the area covered by the old concessions in rivalry with the British company.
The company has furnished to the "Centeal China Post" copies of the correspondence which has recently tain plnee between the two parties. The letter from the Public Utility Bureau surely stands out as a Jandmark in the history of the attacks on British trade in Hankow, since it distinctly claims to be written in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Ministry of Communications and states that the ""fee of two per cent. of your total capital" is to be forwarded to that Ministry.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.