PERSISTENT ALLEGATIONS

Evening Star, Issue 22366, 16 June 1936, Page 9

PERSISTENT ALLEGATIONS

MURDER DF JAPANESE OFFICER BRITISH EMBASSY GUARD CLEARED (British Official Wireless.) Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright RUGBY, June 15. (Received June 16, at 1 p.m.) Reference was made in the House of Commons to the death of a Japanese officer at Peking on May 26, in connection with which allegations appeared incriminating soldiers belonging to the British Embassy guard. Recalling that the preliminary investigation set on foot by the British Embassy as soon as the 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 the receipt of official notification from the Japanese Embassy, a British military court of inquiry was set up in June. “In the meanwhile, when permission was requested for the body of the murdered man to be examined by the doctor to 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.’*-