JUSTIFIED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 281, 27 November 1931, Page 7

JUSTIFIED.

JAPANESE ACTION.

Military Attaches' Views of

Railway Attack.

GREAT CHINESE ARSENAL.

(United P.A.—®lectric Telegraph—Copyright)

10.30 a.m.y

TOKYO, November 26,

The military attaches from Tokyo now in Manchuria, at the end of the first day's inspection reported their unanimous conclusion that there was nothing more proper than the Japanese action on the night of September 18, when a force of railway guards, numbering three companies, repulsed a Chinese attack. They were particularly impressed when they werei informed that there was an army of 7000 Chinese in the barracks nearby. . They inspected the Mukden arsenal, which was stored with ammunition sufficient to equip General Chang's army of 300,000 to sustain a week's fighting,' ' • The party is going to Tsiteihar to-day. War clouds meantime continue to gather in Southern Manchuria. The Japanese have occupied Hsi-nan-fu after several days'skirmishing. Students' Thirst for War. The Chinese forces at Chinchow are expected to launch a general attack on the Japanese shortly. Another invasion of Nanking by students demanding a decisive issue with Japan in regard to Manchuria attained such dimensions to-day that the formal inauguration of Dr. Wellington Koo, the newly-appointed Foreign Minister, was postponed. More than 10,000 boy and girl students from Shanghai and neighbouring cities, in khaki and nurses' uniforms, invaded the Government offices demanding war. They broke the windows of trains at the railway station and also furniture. Then, by straddling the railway tracks, they prevented the passage of trains. The railway officials finally yielded to the intimidation of the students and provided them with travelling facilities which hitherto had been denied. /•

PEACE EFFORTS.

League Plan to Send Observers

To Troubled Zone.

FIGHTING MUST CEASE.

(Received 12,30 p.m.)

RUGBY, November 26,

On behalf of the Council of the League of Nations M. Briand has telegraphed to the Chinese and Japanese Governments requesting a cessation of hostilities in Manchuria. He added that the Council was prepared to draft a scheme reaffirming its resolution, to send a Commission of Inquiry tp the Far East. ■ „ After a long - telephone conversation between General C. G. Dawes and the United States Secretary of State, Mr. H. L. Stimson, in America, General, Dawes advised China .and Japan to accept the proposal. The belligerents have been invited to implement the resolution, by which they declared themselves bound, by ordering their commanders to refrain from provocative initiatives and to avoid further aggravation of the situation. If China or Japan rejects the resolution further action will be considered. The League Council will meet again this evening, when it is hoped that the Japanese and Chinese replies will have been received regarding the resolution adopted last night by the Council. This reaffirmed the Council's earlier resolution calling on the Japanese to withdraw to the railway zone as speedily as possible, and proposed the appointment .of a commission to study the conditions on the spot. In the name of his colleagues, M. Briand telegraphed to the two Governments calling on them to observe ( a complete cessation of hostilities—an appeal which is being supported at Tokyo and Nanking by the diplomatic representatives of the Powers represented on the Council. The importance of avoiding "local incidents" at tfie time when there seems to be some prospect of progress in the League's efforts to resolve the intricate problem is fully realised. The one difficulty which the League has had to encounter has been the volume of conflicting and highly subjective information arriving from Manchuria. The observers of the leading Powers, sent from their Embassies and Legations in Japan and China, are now at the seat of the trouble, and information from them is now becoming available to the League. Hope for Success. "The Times," which describes Sir John Simon's statement as wholly satisfactory, says: "The League's efforts seem likely at last to produce some positive result, for it appears probable that both parties will accept its proposal to send out a Commission of Inquiry armed with full authority to investigate the matter on the spot. "If this hope should not be immediately realised, the League will still have power, of which it should avail itself, to send out a commission without the previous consent of the disputant parties. For obvious reasons, however, the commission would begin its work under better auspices if it were appointed with the consent of all under Article XI. "The policy of the British Government cannot outrun the collective action of the Council. It can only help to carry the League forward in its difficult, search for a just solution."

A committee of 12 members of the League Council has been appointed, including M. Briand (France), Viscount Cecil (Britain), Senor de Madariaga (Spain), and Dr. Erik Colban (Norway), to draft an agreed text for a Council resolution on the Commission of Inquiry.

TO PREVENT CLASH.

NEUTRAL ZONE PROBABLE,

(Received 1 p.m.)

RUGBY, November 26.

According to a Paris Press telegram, during the meeting of the League Council, further instructions were sent to the military attaches of the State members at present in Manchuria asking them to keep in touch with the movements of Chinese- and Japanese forces, and if necessary to organise a neutral zone in front of Chincliow to prevent a further clash.