MENACE IN EAST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 30, 6 February 1933, Page 7

MENACE IN EAST.

SECOND WORLD WAR

JAPANESE THREAT.

Possibilities of Withdrawal From League. SECURITY DEMANDED. (United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Received 11 a.m.) LONDON, February 5. The Geneva correspondent of the "Sunday Times" states that; in a special interview Mr. Matsuoka, Japanese delegate to the League of Nations, said: "If Japan is forced out of the League it will not be her fault. If the League persists in regarding the new State of Manchukuo as nonexistent and attempts to enforce the penalties provided in Article XVI. of tho covenant the result will be a second World Watv "Japan is not militaristic and does not want to leave the League unless she is forced to do so by the ignorance of the Western Powers of Far Eastern conditions. "All we demand is security in the Far East. We know that if we withdraw froln the mainland chaos will follow. Japan faces the problem of Soviet infiltration into the interior of China. "Personally I fear the coming disruption of China on an even more terrible scale than the present. Ask America to give up the Panama Canal; ask Britain to cease her control of the Suez Canal, then you will have an almost exact parallel with the Japanese situation in Manchukuo." It is reported that Mr. Matsuoka informed Sir Eric Drummond, SecretaryGeneral of the League, that Japan intends to advance a new formula before the recommendations of the Committee of Nineteen are sent to the Assembly. Another message says the League's Committee of Nineteen rejected Japan's last-minute proposals to revive the conciliation procedure and informed the Japanese that, though they are free to make further suggestions, until the Assembly adopts the committee's report the committee cannot further delay 'its recommendations. These recommendations are expected to be completed in 10 days. Several speakers favoured a strong line of action. M. Motta (Switzerland) said that as the Japanese were threatening to invade Jehol it might be necessary to apply sanctions under Article XVI. The Japanese plea that there had been no formal declaration of war reduced that article to absurdity. The "Daily Mail," in a leader, declares that the Committee of Nineteen was foolish in its action of rejecting Japan's proposals and risks a disruption in the League or precipitating a war with Japan. Britons will not allow themselves to be entrapped in a life and death struggle with their old friend Japan. UNEASY FEELING. SAFETY OF ART TREASURES. PEKING, February 2. As an indication of the prevailing uneasiness in regard to the political outlook in North China, the authorities of the Palace Museum, which is housed in the Forbidden City, have assembled 3000 cases of art treasures, in readiness for transportation by rail to Nanking or Shanghai. According to the Chinese Press, strict secrecy is being maintained regarding the precise hour of the departure of the special train which will carry the treasures southward, as the authorities fear that public bodies here may attempt to prevent their removal from the former capital. Troops will guard th'e route over which the cases will be conveyed to the railway station, and street traffic will be suspended while the precious freight is put aboard. The treasures consist mostly of bronzes, porcelain, valuable State papers of the Manchu Dynasty, priceless books, including a monumental encyclopaedia, running into hundreds of volumes, one set of which was destroyed in the Japanese bombardment of Chapei (suburban Shanghai) last year.