BOMB ON STORE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 201, 25 August 1937, Page 7

BOMB ON STORE.

169 Deaths in Sincere Company Premises. NATIONAL SALVATION LOAN. (Received 2 p.m.) SHANGHAI, August 24. The casualties in tlie Sincere Company store bombing numbered 109 killed and 535 wounded. Evacuation of foreigners continues, aggregating 18,000. The Chinese Government has appointed a committee, headed by the ex-Finance Minister, Dr. Soong, to promote'the sale of a 50,000,000-dollar issue of National Salvation Bonds.

SPEEDY DECISION. Japan Will Avoid Protracted Conflict. NEW SHANGHAI COMMANDER. (Received 9.30 a.m.) TOKYO, August 24. General Iwane Matsui, former Com-mander-in-Chief in Formosa, has been appointed the new Commander-in-Chief of Japanese forces in Shanghai, and has already taken over his duties. According to the "Nichi Shimbun," the Minister of War, General Sugiyama, stated at a conference of party representatives that Japan would seek the speediest decision and would not play into China's hands by a protracted war. "Japan will not be satisfied until real punishment is given to China and until China recognises her wrong and apologises for it," says the "Japan Times" in a leading article. "If the fighting lasts j two years it will obviously tax Japan's man power and economic strength to the utmost."

CROWDED SINGAPORE. ACCOMMODATING REFUGEES. (Received 9.30 a.m.) SINGAPORE, August 24. Arrangements are being made here to accommodate Hongkong's thousands of surplus refugees. St. John's Island, Singapore's quarantine station, with accommodation for 2000, is now overflowing. At present 1500 Chinese from the China cholera zone are on board vessels in the outer harbour awaiting entry. PLEA FOR PEACE. AMERICA'S MILD REBUKE. WASHINGTON, August 24. The Secretary of State, Mr. Cordell Hull, has formally appealed to China and Japan to refrain from having resort to war for the settlement of their differences. He has called attention to his statement on July 16, and has pointed out that China and Japan were included in the nations who expressed approval of it.

A statement was made by Mr. Hull on July 16, without naming any country, but obviously directed toward Japan and China, that war in the Far East was impossible without encroaching on American and other interests. It was understood that earlier in the day the Chinese Ambassador had requested the United States to invoke the Nine-Power Treaty against Japan. Mr. Hull in his statement reiterated the traditional foreign policy of America, and concluded: "We avoid entering alliances or entangling commitments, but in co-operative effort by peaceful means.

fßy special arrangement Reuter's Wgrld Service, fn addition to other special sources or Information, Is used in the compilation of the overseas intelligence published in this issue, and all rights therein ir Australia and New Zealand are reserved. Such of the cable news on this page as is so headed has appeared in "The Times" •nd Is sent to this paper by special remission. It should be understood that :e opinions are not those of "The Times" unless expressly stated to be so.]