No particular importance attaches to ithe Japanese landing at Swatow, for the only wonder has been that it has not been done before. The Chinese do not appear to have offered much resistance, despite Japanese claims, for the landing commenced at 4 a.m. yesterday when between 400 and 500 men landed on either bank of the river, and reached their objectives some five hours later. Swatow was first thrown open to foreigners by the Treaty of Tientsin and is situated near the mouth of the River Han near the eastern border of the Kwangtung province. It is the shipping port for the city of Chauchow which is some 25 miles inland. In 1862 a strip of land on the north bank of the river and about one mile from Swatow was applied for by the British and granted by the Chinese Government as a concession, but so strong were the demonstrations of the populace against the grant that it ultimately fell through. Foreign residences, however, commenced to spring up in and around Swatow, with the result that they are somewhat scattered though the majority are in the close vicinity of the town. A Chinese syndicate with capital of $3,000,000 obtained the necessary sanction for the construction of a railway from Swatow to Chauchow, and work was commenced on the line in 1904. The railway which is 28% miles in length was opened to traffic in November. 1908, the contractors being Japanese who sup-the material, the rails and engines from Japan. The foreign trade of Swatow has never been very large. Tea and sugar were formerly the principal exports but the tea trade there, as in other parts of China, has largely passed away, and increased attention has since been paid to the cultivation of vegetables, fruit, indigo and tobacco leaf. With the fall of Swatow yet another avenue of communication between the interior and the sea has been stopped, though there is very little indication that the port played any great part in the forwarding of supplies to the Chinese Larmies.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.