West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Saturday 16 June 1900, page 5


CABLEGRAMS. THE WAR CLOUD IN THE EAST. SITUATION IN YUNNAN. LNOTHER MISSION BUILDING DESTROYED. London, June 14. The Chinese reactionaries in Yunnan, a rich and important province in the south of China, have destroyed another mission station. This makes the fourth mission station that has been demolished in the province since the present disturbances began.THE THE TIEN-TSIN-PEKING RAILWAY. BADLY DAMAGED. London, June 14. The foreign force working along the Tien-Tsin-Peking railway, is making very slow progress. The damage to the line is much more serious than was at first anticipated. TLELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION WITH PEKING. LAST LINE SEVERED. London, June 15. The last telegraph wire between TienTsin and Peking has been severed. THE MURDERED JAPANESE CHANCELLOR. LATER PARTICULARS. London, June 15. The Chancellor of the Japanese Legation, who was murdered the day before yesterday in the streets of Peking by the Empress's bodyguard, was, at the time he was attacked, going to meet a foreign expedition that was expected from Tien-Tsin. THE DEFENCE OF 'PEKING. PREPARING TO RESIST EXPEDITION. London, June 15. General Tung Fu Chan, with ten thousand troops, has threatened to defend Peking against any foreign expedition. [General Tung Fu Chan commands about 10,000 Kansuh troops. These troops are mostly Mohammedans, and, according to an authority on the Chinese army, constitute a most disorderly and undisciplined rabble. They are said to be badly armed and undrilled, but good fighters. About 12 months ago they assaulted and nearly killed two British engineers, who were working on the line at Fungtai. They also broke the windows of the railway station, and damaged some boilers and stores. At that time their presence was deemed so dangerous to foreigners that the'foreignMinisters demanded their withdrawal.] INSTRUCTIONS TO THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR. STATEMENT IN .THE COMMONS. London, June 15. In the House of Commons yesterday, Mr. Brodrick, the Under-Secretary of State for-Foreign Affairs, made a statement respecting the situation at Peking. He narrated the repeated and energetic warnings of Sir Claude MacDonald, the British Ambassador, that China would be held responsible for her criminal apathy in regard" to the "Boxers." Mr. Brodrick added that Sir Claude MacDonald and Admiral Seymour, commanding the British fleet on the China station,' had been instructed to take, in concert with the Powers, any step which, in their unfettered discretion, they might deem advisable for the protection of life and property. Mr. Brodrick, continuing, said that Great Britain and Russia had agreed to support any Chinese authority that was capable of maintaining order. The Minister informed the House that Admiral Seymour was commanding the first expedition to Peking, which comprised 2,300 troops, and that these included 900 British. He added that there was complete accord among the Powers regarding the Admiral's action, and announced, amid applause, that arrangements had been made to supplement the British forces in the Yang-tse-Kiang Valley. .ADMIRAL SEYMOUR'S EXPEDITION. RETREAT CUT OFF. London, June 15. The railway line behind Admiral Seymour," who is comnianding an expedition now on its. way from TienTsin to Peking, has been cut. Two railway bridges have also been destroyed.