IN FAR EAST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 200, 24 August 1937, Page 7

IN FAR EAST.

BRITISH WARSHIPS. Ministers Take Serious View Of Situation. RETURN FROM HOLIDAYS. British Official Wireless. (Received 2 p.m.) RUGBY, August 23. f? e , -Admiralty announces that British warships in Chinese waters are as follows:— At Shanghai, the cruiser Dunne, and the escort vessel Fahnoutli; at WooHUiijr, the flotilla leader Duncan, the destroyer Duchess, the escort vessel (Jrimsliy. At Butu Island, the cruisers Cumberland and Suffolk, the destroyer Delight; at Tsingtao, the aneraft-ennier Kn"\v the destroyer Dainty; at Weihnlwei, the submuriiic depot ship Medway, the minelayer Adventure, the destroyer VVestcott, and the escort vessel Folkestone. At Chefoo, there is the destroyer Diana; at Chinwan<jtao, the destro'ver Defender; at Tul:u. t:ie escort Vessel Sandwich, and at Nanking, the cruiso Capetown. An earlier cable report stated that owing to tlie gravity of the situation at Shanghai, tiie Prime Minister, Mr. Chamberlain, will return to London tomorrow from Scotland, where he has been spending a holiday. He will confer with the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Kden, and other members of the Cabinet. Plans for the evacuation of the entire British civilian population of Shanghai, namely, 1>237. will be considered by the Cabinet. There are sufficient men-of-war and liners in Shanghai harbour to accomplish this. The presence of civilians in the heart of the war zone seriously embarrasses the naval and military authorities in arranging to protect the British Settlement, with its £100,000,000 worth of property, from fires, shells and bombs. Satisfactory replies have been received from other nations, except Japan, to the British proposal to form an international force to protect the Settlement. Mr. Chamberlain is to report fully on the situation to His Majesty at Balmoral at the end of next week.