'2 special despatch from: Swatow. Apparently the unfortunate folk of Swatow have been thrown into a state of panic by extraordinary press accounts of conditions prevailing in their midst. The accounts have found hospitality in Hongkong newspapers, thanks, it is alleged, to the assiduity of certain informants in Canton. Receiving these newspapers, the people of Swatow have somehow arrived at the conclusion either that they must be very unobservant oF that Hongkong has special knowledge of their own predicament, The result has been to present the Swatow authorities with a pretty Problem ju the handling of excited residents Some of whom have gone as far as to seek the amenities of Hongkong in the belief that if the news in the Hongkong papers is not confirmed by past events it may easily be prophetic. Fortunately commonsense and a certain amount of counter-propaganda by the local authorities have restored Svratow to the semblance of culm which is its normal lot. The suggestion that the Hongkong authorities should be invited to use their influence in the matter is sound, but circumlocutory, Surely, Swatow might have the audacity 10 give one or two of the editors of the Journals concerned a suitable exposition of the actual state of affairs, Responsible news papers are usually only too glad to have firsthand information of that kind and to check their other and less direct sources accordingly.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.