FAR EAST

Grey River Argus, 31 January 1946, Page 7

FAR EAST

FIGHTING IN PHILIPPINES MANILA, Jan. 29. A Filipino battalion killed 72 Japanese soldiers in southern Luzon last Saturday after trying for six weeks to persruade them to surrender. About forty-eight poorly equipped Japanese escaped into the rugged hills. The search for them is at present going on. FALL OF SINGAPORE LONDON, Jan. 29. A Commoner, Sir Stanley Reed, tabled a demand for a Royal Commission to inquire into the fall of Singapore, following publication of Mr Churchill’s secret speech. The motion states that it was desirable, following the precedent of the Dardanelles-Mesopotamian Commission, to establish at an early date a commission to inquire into the operations at Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore and Burma. CHINESE PROBLEMS. CHUNGKING, Jan. 29. Government concessions solved the major problem of the Unity Conference by increasing the authority of the projected reorganised State Council, hut left unsolved another major question, the distribution of seats in the executive Yuan or Cabinet. The sub-committee decided to meet later in an attempt to reach a solution. There is believed to be a good prospect of a settlement to-night, and the conference will be virtually ended.

Press censorship in China will be abolished within the next ten days, said the Minister of Information (Mr K. C. Wu). Censorship in Chungking and other free China cities was lifted in last November, but it still operates in recovered areas where the country’s latest cities are located. Mr Wu added that the policy on the: registration of publications would be changed, permitting publications to be issued irrespective of their political views. ELECTIONS IN JAPAN TOKIO, Jan. 29. The Japanese Cabinet announced that the Japanese first elections under occupation scrutiny would be held on March 31, having been postponed from January, following General MacArthur’s directive forcing the resignation of scores of ultranationalistic officials. It would be the first time men and women under 25 years were allowed to vote. General MacArthur has ordered the Government to halt the smuggling of food and other’ merchandise from Korea and directed the Japanese to speed up the production of medical supplies, particularly vaccines. FRONTIER PROVINCES NEW DELHI, Jan. 29. Polling in the Frontier Provinces will start to-day and will continue until February 14. A correspondent says that as nine-tenths of the people of these provinces are Moslems, the result of. the poll will have an important bearing on the .Moslem League’s demand for Pakistan.