The information that the British Naval authorities have intimated that there is no objection to British ships using the safe anchorage off Woosung for unloading cargo does not imply any variation of the policy which insists that the time for the return of evacuees to Shanghai has not yet come. Indeed the announcement specifically observed that the situation had not radically changed and this journal has reason to know that the Naval authorities still maintain that the return of British women to Shanghai is as undesirable at this moment as it was when the evacuation of those who were here three weeks ago was being carried out. There is considerable sympathy with the families concerned and the hardships, inconvenience and expense involved are recognized, but the primary consideration is the successful preservation of British interests in the Settlement, those interests comprising the lives and safety of the evacuees and their families as well as the more material questions of the security of property.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.