Tientsin, July 1.
The British sloop H.M.S. Lowestoft, is to arrive at Tangku tomorrow morning to investigate the holding up of British tugs and lighters and also the firing of warning shots by Japanese sentries in their efforts to halt the British vessels, it was announced this evening.
Although the lighters of the Taku Tug and Lighter Company were released today, the company reported that the Japanese had halted the vessels by firing warning shots. One of the shots fired by the Japanese hit a Russian employee aboard a towing tug. The wound was very slight, since the bullet grazed his shoulder.
First reports of the increasing strictness of Japanese examination of vessels on the river were received yesterday when it was revealed that the lighters which left the British Bund with cargo for machine vessels at Taku Bar were held up at Tangku. They were still held yesterday although they left Tientsin at 2 p.m.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.