VIEWS ON WAR IN CHINA

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22307, 22 January 1938, Page 13

VIEWS ON WAR IN CHINA

SIMILAR FEELING IN BRITAIN AND U.S. VISITOR DISCUSSES JAPAN'S AIMS IN PACIFIC (THE PRESS Special Servlce.l AUCKLAND, January 21. An Englishman and an Australian who arrived from San Francisco by the Monterey said in separate interviews that for the time being Great Britain and the United States had sympathy for China far greater than their ability to intervene in the present war in China. An American stockbroker, who was a through passenger to Australia was non-com-mittal. His answer was "Silence. Mr F. Allen, managing director of Berger and Sons, Ltd., London, said the people of England were greatly exercised on the subject of the wholesale slaughter of the Chinese and the ruthless methods of the Japanese military and air forces. In both England and America there was a strong feeling that the two countries should co-operate in an effort to quench this activity. Mr G. F. Davis, controller of the Cockatoo Dockyard, Sydney, w&o I with Mrs Davis had spent about a year in travelling through the Continent, England, and the United States, said that the feeling of Americans against the Japanese and their campaign in China was even stronger than that of the average Englishman. Had it not been for Britain's honouring the disarmament treaty, she would have been better able to stand firmly between Japan and China. There was no doubt that the sympathy of Britain was with China, said Mr Davis, but with the complicated state of international relations in the. Mediterranean, Britain was not yet ready to join forces with America to stop much of the turmoil in the world. No doubt this programme of self-determination had been the- aim of the Japanese since the beginning of this century and the invasion of China was an integral part of the programme. The domination of China and the mastery of the Pacific seemed to be part of it also. It had been said that the Japanese would be content if their objective in this programme were realised by the end of the twentieth century, continued Mr Davis. Because of this, the Imperial defence plan was taking various shapes in Australia. One of the most important was the development of crude oil supplies for the mechanised units of the Army, Navy, and other branches of defence, and a company with which he was connected had been granted concessions at Newnes in the Blue Mountains, for the production of at least 10,010,000 gallons of crude oil every year. It had been realised that the defence scheme could not be successful unless there were adequate supplies of fuel for engines. Mr Elwood P. McEnany. a prominent New York stockbroker, who has been many times round the world, said the best answer to the question was the word "silence."