FAR EAST

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 September 1938, Page 2

FAR EAST

CHINESE NEW LINE [BY CABLE —PBESS ASSN.—COPYBIGHT,] (Recd. Sept. 7, 1 p.m.). HANKOW, September 6. The Chinese defences.oh the'mountain railway between Kiukiang and Nanchang collapsed. A new line is being formed south of Mahuiling. in order to guard Teian. The Press hails the Ambassadorial appointment of General Yintse to Moscow, as initiating permanent RussianChinese co-operation. ADVANCE CONTINUED. (Recd. September 7, 2,30 p.m, TOKIO, September 6. Still converging on Hankow, the Japanese right wing reports the capture of Taikang. The centre ’has- advanced to Sinyang, after reducing the adjacent villages. The left wing has captured Kwangtsi, afte rstreet fighting. The Japanese ocupied key-points on the north bank of the Yellow River, preparatory to crossing, but the Chinese again made a. breach in the dykes, and caused floods at Wenhsien. GERMAN REQUEST REFUSED. (Recd'. September 7, 8 a.m. TOKIO, September 6. The Japanese Navy refused the request from the German Embassy to protect the German-owned Uerasia Company’s planes. Japan has agreed to the establishment of a neutral area at Hankow, and has the Foreign Ambassadors that it must no wise serve as a base for Chinese operations, used for the passage of troops and storage supplies. It was also emphasised that Japan will not be responsible for losses by foreigners as the result of fighting in the immediate neighbourhood, CHINA AND LEAGUE (Rec. Sept. 7, Noon) GENEVA, Sept. 6. It is authoritatively stated that China will'demand the application to Japan of Article Seventeen of the Covenant. If Japan declines discussion, Article Sixteen would be invoked.

POISON GAS USED. (Reed. September 7,2 p.m.) GENEVA, September 6. The third Note to the League from the. Chinese, protesting against the use of poison gas by the Japanese, quotes documents found on bodies of Japanese officers at Nanking, in mid- .) une. One, marked “Burn after use,” allegedly issued on June 8. by the commander of the Japanese left flank, instructs the extensive use of gas shells against Nanking. A note details the provision of gas, giving as an instance- that, the troops manning Tahukwan were supplied with a thousand cylinders for smokescreens, one hundred of an unnamed lethal gas, and between one and two thousand chloride shells.