TIENTSIN UNDER WATER

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22795, 22 August 1939, Page 9

TIENTSIN UNDER WATER

JAPANESE BLOCKADE SWAMPED FOREIGN CONCESSIONS FLOODED (irsmo PRESS 4SSOCIATIOR —COPYRIGHT.) (Received August 22, 12.30 a.m.) LONDON, August 21. The Tientsin correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain says the floods have cut off the electricity supply'and plunged the city in darkness and swamped the blockade. The Japanese sentries are mounted on boxes and barrels. The entire city is flooded to a depth of from three to nine feet. Boats are the sole means of communication. The rains have now ceased, and it is expected ths. the waters will gradually subside. Thousands of Chinese rushed into the foreign zone, which is the hardest hit.

The British residents have appealed to the Lord Mayor of London (Sir Frank Bowater) for assistance. . The Japanese electrified barricades are nearly submerged, and the Japanese military road is only eight inches above water. Chinese refugees are pouring in to the concessions. . The palatial Foreign Country Club racecourse is four feet under water. The whole countryside is a vast expanse of water. “THIRD POWERS NOT WANTED ” JAPANESE ATTITUDE STATED (Received August 21, 8.30 p.m.) TOKYO, August 20. The Foreign Office has issued a statement recalling the issues at the British and Japanese conference. It reiterates that the Japanese demands do not exceed the scope of the conference, and for this reason the banning of currency; silver, and other questions, because they are hot local at Tientsin, is not justified. Britain at the outset of the conference, it is stated, did not intend to exclude economic questions. She now contradictorily contends that they should be solved in relation to the ultimate settlement -of the Chinese and Japanese dispute. Japan does not comprehend how the discussion of the Nine-Power Treaty could- he useful in settling the Tientsin issues, and will never admit the intervention of any third Power, which only leads to delays and complications. BRITISH-JAPANESE BOUNDARY MILITARY OFFICERS CONFER AT HONG KONG (Received August 22, 12.30 a.m.) HONG KONG, August 21. British and Japanese military officials met on the frontier this morning and conferred on the exact demarcation of the boundary so as to avoid incidents. TIENTSIN TALKS SUSPENDED LONDON, August 20. At a conference between the British Ambassador (Sir Robert Craigie) and the principal Japanese delegate, Mr Kato, it was agreed to suspend the Tientsin talks. Britain, in the meantime, will consult other Powers on currency questions.