News was received yesterday that Japanese warships and aeroplanes have shelled and' bombed the Chinhai forts situated at the mouth of the ¥ung River, guarding the approach to Ningpo. The Chinese batteries are said to have replied to the attackers' fire and the Japanese Navy aeroplanes took to air to bomb the forts.
Ningpo area was considered safe since it remained calm after the earlier bombing and shelling of Chinhai forts by the Japanese several months ago. A number of local shipping companies carried on a cargo service between Ningpo and Shanghai, although passenger trafic between the two ports was greatly hampered by strict regulations enforced by the Ningpo authorities who required every coming or going passenger to produce a pass from the Chinese Military authorities. As these passes could not be obtained in this city since the withdrawal of the Chinese forces, the ships carried practically no passengers from here to that port Recently, the passenger regulations were slightly modified as the area enjoyed a spell of peace, and a number of foreign missionaries were leaving there yesterday returning to their inland stations via Ningpo.
The news of Thursday's attack has cancelled these arrangements, as all sailings to that port are temporarily suspended pending further details of the incident. It is hoped however that the situation will permit the resumption of Ningpo sailings in very near future.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.