JAPANESE CHARGE

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 141, 16 June 1936, Page 9

JAPANESE CHARGE

BRITISH TROOPS AND PEKING MURDER FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS (British Official Wireless.) (Received June 16, 11.20 a.m.) RUGBY, June 15. Reference was made at question time in the House of Commons today to the death of the Japanese officer in Peking on May 26 in connection with which allegations have appeared incriminating soldiers belonging to the British Embassy Guard. Recalling, that the preliminary investigation set on foot by the British Embassy as soon as reports appeared in the local Press had established that there had been no British troops either on pass or on duty outside their own quarters at the time when the incident was stated to have taken place, the Foreign Secretary stated that following receipt of official notification from the Japanese Embassy a British military court of inquiry was set up on June 1. Meanwhile, when permission was requested for the body of the murdered man to be examined by the doctor of his Majesty's Embassy he was informed that it had been cremated on May 29, that is, on the day before the Japanese Note was handed in. The court of inquiry effectively confirmed the result of the preliminary investigations. The Japanese Embassy, however, subsequently submitted the testimonies of a number of witnesses of Japanese or Korean extraction, in support of the original Japanese allegations. These witnesses assert that they have identified three members of the British Embassy Guard as being involved in certain disturbances which took place on the night of the murder.

The investigations are proceeding, and the witnesses mentioned are to be examined by the court of inquiry.