CHANGE LIKELY

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 7, 3 October 1941, Page 7

CHANGE LIKELY

Cabinet Personnel InTokio MATSUOKA MAY RETURN U.S.-Japanese Stalemate (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received October 2, 8.10 p.m.) NEW YORK, October 1. The overthrow of Prince Konoye’s moderate Cabinet and the re-emergence of the former Foreign Minister, Mr. Matsuoka, are expected as signs multiply that the talks between Japan and the United States have reached a stalemate, says the “New York Times” correspondent in the Far East, Mr. Hallett Abend, who is now in Manila. Prince Konoye will probably survive a Cabinet reshuffle, while Mr. Matsuoka, whose /policy led Japan into the Axis pact, will return with strong extremist support. It is significant that Tokio announced that Mr. Matsuoka is now regaining his health, .the loss of which was given out as the reason for his resignation from the Cabinet. Meanwhile, informed observers in the Far East express amazement at the persistence of the belief that the Japanese moderates are able to influence the country’s policy. On the contrary, it is held that the recent evidence of Japanese reasonableness has been merely camouflage by the militarists to prevent the necessity of fighting a major Power iu defence of Japan’s earlier conquests. They would agree to an understanding with the United States only on terms safeguarding all the advances made in Asia. The “Herald-Tribune’s” Tokio correspondent says the Japanese are expressing anxiety at the three-Power talks in Moscow, having been extended to include the Far East. This, it‘ is claimed, increases the difficulty of attaining a United States-Japanese agreement. The “Herald-Tribune” says that the American-Japanese talks are on. the verge of a breakdown because of Japan’s continued adherence to the Axis, but that both sides are maintaining negotiations in the hope of averting a Cabinet crisis in Japan, with the likelihood of a more forceful Government coming into power. ■ The Tokio correspondent of the “Herald-Tribune” reports that the “Nichi Niehl Shimbun” claims that Mr. Duff Cooper is conferring with Sir John Latham, the Australian Minister, and 'Sir Archibald Clark Kerr, British Ambassador to China, at Singapore, in an attempt to strengthen the “A.8.C.D,” encirclement of Japan. JAPANESE MOVES IN HUNAN Withdrawal Or (Received October 2, 8.10 p.m.) SHANGHAI, October 1. According to the Associated Press, Chinese military dispatches assert that the Japanese in the Hunan Province are retreating in great disorder after suffering heavy losses. The retreat is described as a debacle many times worse than that of 1939. Chungking reports that the Japanese Army Press Bureau stated that the Japanese troops were evacuating Changsha, “Having attained their objective, the dispersal of the Chinese defenders of the city.” The Associated Press quotes a Japanese Army announcement that all the forces used in the Hunan drive would be withdrawn northward and no attempt would be made to garrison Changsha. The Chinese Government spokesman, however, claimed that Changsha was still in Chinese hands and all the Japanese parachutists who landed at Changsha were killed or dispersed. He added that an encircling movement by Chinese troops in the northern part of Hunan Province had been successful. RELIEF OF DISTRESS IN CHINA (British Official Wireless.) (Received October 2, 7.5 p.m.) RUGBY, October 1. His Majesty’s Government has agreed to send £5OOO to the British fund for the relief of distress in China. This was stated in the House of Commons by Mr. Eden, who said the fund was used to meet expenditure on the maintenance of ambulance units, the treatment of sick and wounded /soldiers and relief activities generally in the war zone of free China.