14 MAY 1927, Page 2

Hankow, Sir Austen went on to say, which we had

entrusted to Mr. Chen and his friends was a ruined and terror-stricken city. We had the right and the power to reoccupy it, nevertheless the British Government would not do that lest the extremists in China should be reunited. Sir Austen said nothing about all the rumours in America which attributed to Great Britain a policy of the mailed fist. We do not know, therefore, what really happened in the recent diplomatic discussions, but we suspect that the British desire to give proper weight to representations from the British residents in Shanghai and elsewhere exaggerated into advocacy of suppression and comp The only fact that matters is that Great Britain is p ing, as we always felt sure would happen, a policy patience and benevolence—governed, of course, by unwavering determination to protect our own people. * * *