There was a case recently of two! British subjects who wanted to re~ turn to their homes in the Concession tone evening and were refused permission to" enter, on the grounds that it was too late and that the barriers were closed, and had to spend the night outside. Residents who live in the Concession, but whose Dusiness is outside, say frankly that they are foreed to spend a much greater part of their time waiting at the barriers than at their work. Every possible difficulty is put in the way of foodstuffs entering the Concession, if they are believed 10 be consigned {oa British national. Re-fe ently, a lorry carrying a load of potatoes, was made to empty out every single sack, before it was al-Towed to proceed. "One could cite: dozens of eases of these humiliations and smaller pin-pricks, but the tale would have no end, What makes the " situation partiularly galling is the fact that these restrictions "and. this maltreatment barriers without let or hindrance. As conditions are in Tientsin today, the} pass or passport is a Stark fact Is that to carry a" British tion to humiliation; whereas Gor-direct tans and Talians are always treated with special courtesy" at the barriers, as also on the railway, But T have a right to say that] which Is both to the advantage' of the Hangchow Chinese and the Japanese military who are here, 1 have mentioned the fact of false charges being presented to the local authorities and T shall give a case for which the: evidence is ample.
A few days ago, one of these spies! reported {0 the local authorities, that in Wayland Academy was a room with many army rifles, machine guns, artillery and hand grenades, such materials being held for use against the Japanese. " Suddenly a cordon of soldiers surrounded the campus, even all Chinese. were removed from the street on the ground that serious incidents might (ake place." The stspeeted room was entered and there Were found a number of dummy guns, made of wood, ised by the students of Wayland Academy before the occupation of Hangchow, in their military drill and of course never used since.
When the mistake was discovered, an apology was duly made. But to add to the joke, one can add that the felual fact of these dummy guns of wood, had. some time past. been re~ Ported to the local authorities. for their information, so as to avoid any possible misunderstanding. This ident at Toast indicates how much trust isto be imposed on Chinese spies who can report dummies army rifles, machine guns, artillery and hand grenades.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.