JAPANESE ELECTIONS

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 195, 13 May 1924, Page 7

JAPANESE ELECTIONS

« RIOTS ON POLLING DAY DEFEAT OF GOVERNMENT PROBABLE Tokio, May 10. The polling in the general election is being held. The day was ushered in with violence. Riots ar© reported from all over the country, and there was one political murder. Gangs emulating the American Ku Klux Klan, garbed in white robes, raided the headquarters of various candidates, and beat the guards. Numerous gang fights occurred, and gendarmes were summoned. Anti-American feeling became intensified when the newspapers printed dispatches indicating that the United States House of Representatives had declined to accept 1925 as the date for the operation of the exclusion law. Early returns indicate that the Government is losing; and even members of the Cabinet admit that the chances of obtaining a majority are most remote. Ono clement in the Cabinet is known to be urging that the Cabinet snould resign it the election goes against it. Other members, especially the Home Minister, Mr. Mizuno, insist upon the retention of power at least until June 6, when the Diet will meet. The interim, they say, could be utilised in an attempt to enlist sufficient members now belonging to enemy parties to join the Government forces and give Viscount Kiyoura a majority. It is believed that the Mizuno faction will prevail unless the Opposition majority is overwhelming, in which event the Cabinet will probably resign before the Diet meets. —Ausi-N.Z. Cable Assn.