With reference to the article which appeared in our issue of June 28, "we are asked to give prominence to the following facts The District Salt Inspectors in Shantung endeavoured to. protect the interests of bondholders making it known. through the medium of the native press the treaty ports of the province that the proposed provincial Joan to be secured on the local salt revenue had been Fepudiated by the Chief Inspector on behalf of the Central Government.
Their efforts, however, were set at nought through the action of the provincial authorities" who have enforced a strict censorship of posts, telegraph and press under Martial Law and prohibited any reference to the matter from being made public, Every effort has been made, however, through the medium Banks, Chambers of Commerce, ete,, to make known the attitude adopted by the Chief Inspectorate, In our issue of June 28 our cor respondent sent a copy of the statement published by the Salt Collectorate in Tsingtao repudiating the loan which the Provincial Government seeks to raise on the security of the salt and warning the public of its illegality. Our correspondent added that none of the Chinese papers had been allowed to publish the statement.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.