FROM GAOL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 199, 23 August 1937, Page 7

FROM GAOL.

CHINESE RELEASED.

Short Term Prisoners Gain

Their Liberty.

JAPANESE COMPLAINT.

United Press Association.—Copyright.

(Received 1.30 p.m.) SHANGHAI, August 22.

The five hundred short sentence Chinese prisoners from Ward Road gaol were evacuated by a fleet of buses escorted by motor cycle police and armoured cars. In the course of several days' cross-fire, two shells struck the gaol, which is .the world's largest, killing 10 and injuring 40.

The escort took the prisoners to West Shanghai and released them. There being no Chinese authority to receive them the prisoners doffed their convict garb in the. full view of the public and walked off in clothes supplied by friends.

In pursuance of the plan to liberate the remaining prisoners the escort returned to the gaol but Japanese sentries turned it back because they could not permit the city to be infested by convicts, also declaring that the Settlement authorities broke their agreement in handing prisoners over to Chinese authorities.

The Japanese claim to have established control in Ward Road area, therefore they are able to feed the remaining prisoners. °

ITALIAN ASSISTANCE.

REINFORCE BRITISH FORCE

(Received 1.30 p.m.)

SHANGHAI, August 22.

The Italian gunboat Lepanto landed a machine-gun unit to reinforce the British defence sector.

The International Relief Committee appeals to the world for funds for shelter, medicines and disinfectants for 1,000,000 Chinese refugees.

A Japanese spokesman denies that his countrymen are occupying any foreign property, and declares that iBOO Japanese refugees in Astor House are there by agreement with the management.

Legal experts of the British Foreign Office, says an Associated Press London correspondent, are considering problems arising from compensation demands for damage to British property. As soon as the necessary guiding principles have been established, they will be communicated to the Consul-General at Shanghai, on whose advice claims will be made. It is estimated that £180,000,000 of British capital is invested in Shanghai, the bulk being in the Yangtsepoo area, where fighting is fiercest.

FOREIGN REFUGEES.

EVACUATION CONTINUES,

LONDON, August 22.

So far 12,800 foreign refugees have been evacuated from Shanghai. A message from Hongkong says 884 women and 423 children have arrived there. They are full of admiration for the way in which the British sailors are handling the evacuation.

British destroyers took further parties of British women and children down the Whangpoo yesterday to join the Liverpool steamers Patroelus and Maron, in which they are proceeding to Hongkong, states a British official wireless message.

Such other British subjects as desire to leave Shanghai, and people of other nationalities not represented bv shipping interests at Shanghai, will have the opportunity of doing so later in the Canadian Pacific liner Empress of Canada.

CABLE PRESSURE.

DIVERSION OF ROUTES.

Owing to the disruption of cable communications in North China, Australian and New Zealand messages to Europe during the past week have been transmitted through Sydney, Auckland and Vancouver on one side, and Singapore 011 the other, said Mr. Edward G. Brook, Australasian divisional manager of Cable and Wireless, Ltd., on arrival by the Monterey this morning.

Normally cables to Europe would be sent through Singapore, Madras, Bombay and Aden, or alternatively, through the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Capetown, but on account of conditions in China the southern routes were now being used. Up till the time he left Sydney 011 Friday, said Mr. Brook, the traffic 011 the lines was so heavy that it had not permitted his having personal communication with the company's Chinese stations, none of which, so far as he knew, had been shelled.

While in Shanghai everything was confused, the station was still perfectly safe, but the head office of the company was keeping in close touch with developments for the safety of the staff.

Heavy traffic was keeping the lines fully occupied with anxious people cabling relatives residing in China, American and other business concerns with important holdings in the Orient keeping in constant communication with China, and the diversion through the southward route therefore had its advantages. Especially was this so as regards time, for while the New Zealand station was normally silent the -able load was at its peak.

Mr. Brook gave no support to the suggestion that wireless might eventually usurp the place of seabed cable in the transmission of messages. Underwater cables were steadily improving, he said, and cable communication between Sydney and London had now developed to such an extent that it was instan-

taneous.