JAPANESE BANKNOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXII, Issue 253, 24 September 1942, Page 5

JAPANESE BANKNOTES

INVASION INTENTIONS. (Special Australian Correspondent.) (Rec. 9.5 a.m.) SYDNEY, Sept. 23. A large number of banknotes printed in Japan have been seized by tho Allied military forces during the recent operations in the SouthWest Pacific. They are accepted by the Australian military authorities as proof of Japan's intention to invade and occupy at least part of Australia or New Zealand. The fact that they were captured in this theatre is held to indicate that they could only have been printed for distribution in Australia or New Zealand.

A naval proclamation, printed on foolscap-size paper and with several words mis-spelt, was intended for circulation among the English-speak-ing section of the island natives, who were expected to make its contents known to other natives unable to read English. It reads: "We guarantee your life and property. Nippon has declared war against the United States of America and England, and is going to glorious war with them to keep the independence and honour of the yellow race." AMERICAN REVELATIONS.

According to a Washington cable the Office of War Information states that American revelations of the Japanese mistreatment of prisoners have spurred the Tokio radio to attempt a propaganda counterattack. A Japanese language broadcast said that the United States treatment of Japanese nationals would go down in history as a smear on the claim of American humanitarianism. It also broadcast a threatening editorial in the Shanghai Times urging that British and American nationals in Japan and occupied China should be herded together and driven into the interior, where there are no modern facilities. Americans should never forget the hundreds of bombings of American religious missions in China, said Mr J. Grew, former Ambassador to Japan, when broadcasting. He added: The Chinese used to say that when the Japanese bombers arrived the most dangerous spot in a town was the American religious mission. When Mr Grew protested to the Japanese they said that tlte bombings wero accidental. Mr Grew replied that two or three accidents were possible but not two or three hundred.