since Mr, John Thorburn's ig now over four months Oct, #0,
appearance evoked anxiety in the' minds of the community to which belonged. His fate, un happily, cannot be said any longer to be a mystery. It can be assumed that his death occurred, in some way or another, while he was in the custody of the military forces of the recognised Government of China, It is just four months since this Journal, commenting on the failure of that Government. to furnish satis in regard to his possi pointed out that the case vided an acid test of the fun mental issue with which the discussions on the abolition of extraterritoriality are concerned." It is just three months since there was published the report first submitted by the Chinese Government to Sir Miles Lampson—a report characterised in these columns as "not even a" creditable or competent work of fiction" and by a meeting of the China Association the next day as "an affront to the British Government." Sir Miles Lampson, it was learnt later, had, been instructed to express disappointment" and to warn the' authorities at Nanking that' "further delay would confirm the' suspicion that they were de~ liberately procrastinating in the' belief that the case be hushed up and eventually forgotten." Shortly afterwards, on July 28,, Mr. Henderson, then Foreign. Secretary, instructed Sir Mile Lampson' to take the case to" General Chiang Kai-shek, The British Minister, who had flown to Nanking, carried out those instructions with the result that a second inquiry by w high military officer was personally and, it was credibly stated, peremptorily ordered by General, Chiang Kai-shek, This inguiry,, at first, appeared to be as barrett as the former; on August 15 this journal pointedly referred to the! "gross levity" of any attempt'to repeat the previous non pos-/sumus and it was at once reported that General Chen Yih was making a further investigation at Soochow. Subsequent! it was suggested, on apparent authoritative' inspiration, that report would be made' to the: British Minister" somewhere' about the end-of September,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.