China Navigation Str, Shengking Target of Attack from; Communists near Wusueh most Ok OWN
Hankow, Sept. 1.
The China Navigation Co.'s Bteamer Shengking which arrived Hankow yesterday was fired upon iby the Communists above Wusueh fas she came up-river. About, ten minutes after leaving the balk at Wusueh, which calling place she. had reached about midnight. The steamer was subjected to a brisk fusillade from men on the North bank. The naval guard which was carrying replied vigorously, Dut it was too dark to judge what effect their action had on the tackers, From private sources it is learnt that while Wusueh itself is safe as ong as its present garrison remains there, and while smaller towns-like Lungping and Tienchiachen a1 being protected, it is not safe to move even a mile into the country. he county town of Kwangtsi, 20 miles North of Wusueh, has been visited by the brigands but there Was no general looting. The band had instructions just which properties were to be dealt with, one of these being the Wesleyan Church which was thoroughly "ransacked. The resident Chinese minister managed to escape, but his house was denuded of everything, When one*adds to this the news that the Kinhan Railway has been torn up again this weekend at a place near Huayyen and traffic Suspended, it is obvious that the aumaking little headway to deal with the As the revolt of the disturbed state of Hupeh and the growing fear that the Red army which took jon of Changsha is still un-by the Government. troops, depression in Chi circles, This deepened, according to the vernal cular press, by the unsatisfactory nature of the interviews which the heads of the business community had with the Minister of Finance when he was here.
Whilst they gave assent to his. scheme for raising $3,000,000 in the near future, they drew his attention to the' fact that the sum of $11,000,000 has already been bor-owed from the Hankow merchants and that the repayment of this sum has not commenced, They pointed out the difficulty of carrying on business when capital was thus being depleted. Apparently the on! relace that the merchants got wa:
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.