Though since the fall of Canton and Hankow into Japanese hands the paucity of available information concerning the prosecution of the campaign would seem to suggest that little is occurring, the news that the capture of Changsha is expected very shortly indicates that much is still being done. The rapidity of the Japanese advance down the Canton-Hankow Railway indicates that while it is undoubtedly true that the Chinese command succeeded in getting its main troops before Hankow out of the salient comparatively unharmed, it has not yet been able to establish them in positions likely to enable them to offer much resistance to the Japanese forces whose movements have been accelerated by the momentum of their recent successes. With the closing of Canton, the Chinese are forced to depend upon long "overland routes for the receipt of supplies, ind a very different set of considerations applies now from that in existence before the closure of the southern port. It is obvious, then, that some time will elapse Before the Chinese will have been able to reorganize themselves to set up that stubborn resistance to the Japanese advance which has marked so much of their fighting in the sixteen months. At the same time it must be remembered that the Chinese are moving into areas well adapted for further fighting, and best disposed for the type of struggle they must continue tó wage, while ihe Japanese appear to be committed, not only by the pronouncements of their leader: out also by the facts of the military situation, to a continued pursuit of the Chinese forces which refuse to be brought to a final battle. ind are drawing their enemy deeper and deeper into China forcing the creation of long lines of communication, all the more vulnerable to the guerilla tactics which form part of the general Chinese scheme. The activities of these guerillas may be estimated irom the Japanese report emanating from Hankow to the effect that during September and October no fewer than 308 such engagements have been fought, or an average of five per diem, with Chinese casualties placed at 2,560 or an average of eight an engagement. The Japanese have given no figures concerning their own losses, and content themselves by stating that they were small.
Claims from Tokyo, published in another column today, regarding the alleged enormous losses sustained by the Chinese before the fall of the Wuhan cities need to be accepted with considerable reserve. It is quite apparent now, as has already been stated, that the Chinese command succeeded. as they have done on a number of previous occasions, in extricating their main forces from the pincer-like movements of the Japanese. Certainly up to the present no real evidence has been adduced to prove that this was not the case. The Chinese had plenty of opportunity to withdraw from the Wuhan salient, for at no time until just immediately prior to their entry into Hankow had the Japanese so closed their wings as to bottle up their opponents. The withdrawal did not have to proceed through the bottleneck of the Wuhan cities, and there were at the time of the Chinese withdrawal wide gaps through which it was possible to retreat. The establishment of a Japanese line west of the Canton-Hankow and Peiping-Hankow Railways seems to be the immediate aim of the Japanese, and, if they succeed in effecting this, they will have an excellent line of communications in the two railways running parallel io their main lines, affording fine from any one threatened point to another, and thereby, reducing the number of men which would otherwise be required to maintain such a long front. This will become necessary if any of the troops at present in China are to be employed for the purpose of stabilizing conditions in those parts of the country which are nominally under Japanese control Thus while on the map the extent to which Japan has advanced into China may look imposing that impression has to be modified by the knowledge that passage through territory does not necessarily mean its capture, and there are vast areas in the coastal provinces which Japan has overrun which cannot by any stretch of imagination be said to be under complete Japanese control.
The Japanese claim that there is now no part of China which they cannot reach and bomb by aeroplane is probably correct, for they can establish aerodromes so far in the interior that it should be possible to fly to China's furthermost borders. That naturally follows from the advances which have been made, but it no more means the control of those areas which are now accessible than the repeated bombings of Canton up to its fall meant domination of that city. The aeroplane and the tank may be very effective weapons, but it is the man with the bayonet who alone can give the invading army that degree of occupancy which amounts to effective control. Consequently the Japanese threat to pursue Generalissimo Chiang Kaishek to the very limits of China may be accepted as a piece of political rhetoric. In a very short while the Japangse armies will be operating in country in which there are no rai. ways, and while motor roads have been and are being constructed, they will not be sufficient to provide all the communication that the advance of large forces westwards would necessitate, The conclusion appears to be justified that in the comparatively near future Japanese progress in pursuit of the Chinese forces will be very much slower, and that the tempo at which Japan has been endeavouring to. bring China to her knees will be considerably reduced. That is one of the main points in China's favour. Once it was accepted, as it most certainly was by the Chinese, that Hankow and Canton would fall into Japanese hands, the only real question was whether the Chinese would be able to maintain their forces intact and prolong the struggle under conditions in which the time factor is of paramount importance. The Chinese apparently believe that the time is approaching when this will be the case, and that the war of attrition will be more successfully prosecuted in the middle and west of China than it was in the coastal provinces in which the invaders obtained so much benefit from the existing means of communication. So long as they do believe that there will in all probability be no very great growth in the peace sentiment which Japanese observers claim to perceive, but which does not seem so apparent to those of other nationalities, The Canton The arrival of a new P. & O. vessel in Shanghai is always an event of great importance. This British line has been trading with Shanghai for so many years that development has been mutual and simultaneous and what concerns one equally concerns the other. It was so in March, 1850, when the first P. & O. wooden paddle steamer the Lady Mary Wood arrived to inaugurate a service between Shanghai and Hongkong to connect with the monthly mail to Hongkong via what was then known as the "overland route via Suez" because the canal had not been dug, and it is today with the Canton, the latest vessel of this line which is in port on her maiden voyage. With conditions so uncertain it needs a geat deal of courage to embark on new undertakings but the P. & O. directors have never lacked this quality for even in 1850 competition from sailing ships was so great and the prospect of cargo was so poor that it was announced that unless the Shenghai community furnished 9 subsidy the new fast steamer service with Hongkong could not be maintained. The subsidy was not provided but the P. & O. courageously faced the difficulties of these early days of steam and their triumph is reflected in the ing position the line occupies today. Historically, the link with Shanghai and China is continued with the new liner, Sheisthe third of her line and granddaughter of a Canton which achieved fame nearly a century ago, earlier than the Lady Mary Wood. The first Canton was built in 1848, a ship of 348 tons and 150 h.p., and was employed as a feeder ship to small ports in China. The story is told:
Shortly after her arrival on the China station the authorities were concerned at the activities of Chinese pirates working out of Bias Bay, and one of the small units of the Navy engaged in an endeavour to destroy them was H.M.S. Columbine, a two-masted sailing ship armed with twelve 32- der guns. On September 28, 1849, the Columbine sighted the pirates and opened fire en a fleet of 14 junks, when a falling wind held up the attack. Later the Columbine was lying becalmed and the junks were escaping under sweeps when the Canton came up, took the Columbine in tow, and brought her guns within effective range. A brisk action followed, the pirates were wiped out, and the Canton embarked and carried the casualties from the Columbine to Hongkong.
Shanghai extends a hearty welcome to the new Canton and wishes it a long and pleasant association with a port so long connected with the P. & O.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.