London, Dec. 8.
Particulars of the British naval and military forces in North China were given by Mr. R. A. Butler, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, at question time in the House of Commons yesterday.
Mr. Butler said that the British military forces on November 1 comprised 37 officers, and 855 other ranks, Foreign garrisons in North China then were United States, 555; France, 1,529, and Italy, 342, while the strength of the Japanese garrison could not be ascertained.
These figures, Mr. Butler declared. included the garrisons at Peiping and Tientsin, and certain small detachments in the vicinity.
The disposition of the British navat forces in North China, Mr. Butler continued, was at the discretion of the Commander-in-Chief—(Vice-Admiral Sir Percy Noble), and the allocation between North China and other parts of the station varied considerably throughout the year.
Ón December 5, Mr. Butler stated, the stations of British warships in North China were one escort vessel at Taku, one escort vessel at Tsingtao, and one cruiser at Weihaiwei.
At present, Mr. Butler concluded, there were no foreign warships in Chinese waters north of the Yangtze, except for a number of Japanese cruisers and destroyers.—Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.