HUGE SUPPLIES LEFT FOR JAPANESE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 304, 24 December 1941, Page 7

HUGE SUPPLIES LEFT FOR JAPANESE

MALAYA ADVANCE Failure To Apply "Scorched Earth" Policy United Press Association Copyright. Rec. 1 p.m. SINGAPORE, Dec. 23. L° n don that the i n Pm a m, ,f, policy was followed fn «fr, greeted wlth mixe d awilfti « Singapore, where the absolute failure to destroy' the of valuable installations in North Malaya is well known. It mav be true that the smelting works k * power station were destroyed, but thousands of tons of tin ingots, thousands of tons of stacked rubber and thousands of gallons of petrol were left at Penang ready for the use of the invaders. Members of the services and correspondents returning from up country state that in the British withdrawal whole towns are being left intact for the Japanese. Shops, completely stocked, are being abandoned. In the first fortnight of the war thousands of tons of very valuable food stocks must have fallen into Japanese hands. In Penang warehouses, it is reliably reported, there were supplies sufficient for Penang's population for two months. Looting, which broke out at Penang first, is being repeated elsewhere. Scottish Trader's Strange Story A Scottish trader named Reade, who has lived many years on the Malayan east coast, told a strange story of the Japanese "landing" at Kuantan. He said that there was no actual landing and that the original report was due to a false alarm caused by heavy waves on the beach detonating landmines, whereupon the beach defenders fired. Nothing else happened, he said, and the defenders concluded that the invaders had retreated. Reade declared that Kuantan was safe, reinforced and in good hands Any attempted landing there, or lower, where the Australians are ready, would meet with the hottest reception. The trader and a few others were among the last British subjects to leave the area. They made their way up the coast, meeting others coming down from Kuala and Trengganu. Reade learnt that a dozen MalayanJapanese were at large in these latter districts, where they had taken command and established themselves in a local rest house. He and his companions crept up and found Japanese sitting round a table drinking whisky from a bottle labelled Britain Delivers the Goods." The Japanese had laid aside their arms which were presumably secured bv overpowering the lonely police. The whole of the enemy party was arrested and bundled off in two ancient omnibuses to the nearest military post. ai Tokyo radio said that Japan had knocked out the British and American plan to blockade Japan and is now m a position to counter-block-ofrubber supplies,, particularly CHIANG'S WAR POWERS Rec. 2 p.m. CHUNGKING, Dec. 23. The Kuomintang's Central Executive Committee has appointed T V Soong, Foreign Minister, succeeding Dr. Quo Tai-chi. Dr. Quo Tai-chi has been appointed chairman of the Foreign Affairs Sub-committee of the Supreme National Defence Council. The Central Committee has granted Marshal Chiang Kai-shek extended war powers, including the authorisation to enact, revise and enforce laws and edicts. The committee has issued a manifesto voicing hearty support for the RooseveltChurchill Atlantic Declaration.