comparative pence a large group of After early "twelve months of Fandits suddenly appeared in Bast erin Honan a Week ago. and caused Much anxiety and some litre' dam fore thay were apesed For some tine past it has been known that a company' of bandits Jed by aman named Tsui was large in' Western Honan in the Lat shan and Yehsien districts, to which Aisiniets most of his men belonged. They numbered three or four hundred, "swept down Wayang. and geasing the railway. Uelow Gamat advanced "rapidly to. Wards Runing and Shangtsal. From there" they "turned mottheenst. and fen. Monday "lane week. appeared Within a mile or two st Siangeheng. On Tuesday government. troops ae: Fived, having' made. the 70. miles From the railway in two days" forced Iarehing, and caught. up to. the bandits en the following day" when they had advanced another 20 ties or fo, being then about five miles forth' of Shonidu, Some skirmishes feccurred vand~ the. brigands be Sng' short of ammunition fed ins south-easterly direction into Anu, hither the troops have sine follow:
them, Many hundreds of captives Were released, some of whom had been in captivity for months. "ven their hare Seigands Tonnged to do considerable damage Retting fire to. hayricks and "thatched-roots, "and tay "to reali" Row much more damage "would "have "been tone dad thole Stay. been prolong: fe" Gitm accounts are told of the fai of fe by the former cape iit ni one" death atthe hit no. more just" death at the hands of the public executioner 'Avson in' Honan' ranks only. second te murder as one of the unpardon: able crimes. tary author bandits. ho government "troops air energy in following up. the following, up. th consisted of "n mumber of detached ments of the First Division, ud to the speed with which they followed the, bandits much of their success in due, in' Siangcheng the foreign ves. dence, was. forcibly entered. and! Seeupied by some "of the oticers riving the absence of the mission-fies," Fortunately their. stay was very bef one, and no damage was one." The people speak well of thu behaviour' of the troops, and. might be wished that, congeatul ons' on their anticbandit activities could take' some. practical forms any, of them seemed. insuficent lad for the cold weather now com-Sng on, and some were obviously Biter' experience "has "taught" the Local people: the wisdom of fortify. ing their cites' and villages, Into these they fle at the first. rumour of danger, while long-distance tele-Dhones enable the city author!
Teceive speedy news of the than.
'The communist situation in the south of the province' appears to unchanged. "After mare. than 15 months the Rev, Bert Nelson in: the. hands" of his captors, and unless ho secures a speedy Tease. will have to spend.'a second Winter in captivity. "Owing to. com Mmunist nativities the "summer. re-ort of Kikung has been almost entirely deserted for the. past. we] years, and hundreds of thousands of worth of property ies. ile, rating. for want of repais. The: American boys school has long moved array, frst to Hankow ud then to Kuling. The. problem idding the Honam-Hupeh border the communists is a difficult one, the region is a mountainous and many. of the local people have Soon obliged to become communists the point of the sword, #0. that {fo destroy the bandits might. mean considerable danger to:
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.