ACUTE TENSION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 128, 1 June 1936, Page 7

ACUTE TENSION.

FAR EAST UNREST. i Mishap to Japanese Troop Train I Near Tientsin. I I COUNTER-CHARGES MADE. | United Press Association. —Copyright. PEKING, May 31. Acute tension has followed a misliap to a Japanese troop train on Friday l night, three miles from Tientsin. Versions of the affair are at direct variance. A Japanese statement asserts that a bomb exploded beneath the train which was carrying reinforcements to the Japanese garrison in Tientsin. One wagon was destroyed and several horses j were wounded. 1 The Chinese assert on the other hand that the Japanese themselves loosened some fishplates and prised up a length of rail. They say that the Chinese discovered this before the arrival of the ' train and repaired the damage. j The Chinese fear that the Japanese will seize on the incident as a pretext | for direct action in North China. It is j reported that the Japanese have placed ' Chinese officials under surveillance. J An official Japanese statement says any disturbance will destroy SinoJapanese friendship. The Japanese mili- j tary authorities are devising measures' for the performance of their duty. j The Chinese claim that only a patrolman's vigilance saved the crowded Mukden express from disaster on the damaged track. 1 The correspondent of the British United Press in Peking says the Japanese mounted machine-guns in Peking station as three troop trains arrived, and ejected journalists from the plat- j form.