BRITISH DEMAND FOR HOSTAGES

Northern Advocate, 14 December 1937, Page 7

BRITISH DEMAND FOR HOSTAGES

(Received 10 a.m.)

SHANGHAI. December 13. The British Naval authorities have demanded that six Japanese officers be placed on board the gunboat Bee as hostages.

Rear-Admiral Reginald Holt, the officer commnd'mg the British Naval Forces on the Yangtse-kiang, conveyed this request to Wuhu before the Bee left for Hoshien to aid the survivors from the American gunboat Panay.

Admiral Holt also asked that the Japanese should not fire on the Bee from the river banks. One of the shells which struck her scored a direct hit on the stokers’ mess of the Ladybird. Others hit the foredeck and the breach of a six-inch gun. Another damaged the bathrooms and the wireless equipment with splinters. A Tokio message says a Japanese military officer is hastening from Shanghai to Wuhu to investigate the attack on the Ladybird and the Bee. V A Protest.

A despatch from Tokio says the British Ambassador, Sir Robert Craigic, called at the Japanese Foreign Office and directed attention to the seriousness of the attack against a British

warship. A consular investigation is being made at Shanghai into an incident, which occurred on Saturday, when the Japanese fired on a launch flying the German flag, near .Kiangnan. South Shanghai. The Japanese allegedly beat the Swiss commander of the launch Jean Comptesse for refusing to go on board a Japanese tug. Battery Opens Fire,

Further details in connection with the Japanese firing on the British gunboat Ladybird, which was at anchor off Wuhu, show that the Ladybird was just getting under way to take officers to protest against a previous bombardment by Japanese with machine-guns and artillery of the tug Tsintah, which was carrying Mr, Brune Fraser and Captain o,’Donnell. of the diplomatic service, when a Japanese field gun batfery opened fire on her. When the gunboat H.M.S. Bee arrived on the scene, fire was also opened on her. One shell, fired from a battery at 400 yards range, passed over the Bee, but further firing was stopped by Captain O’Donnell and Mr. Fraser making a vigorous protest to the Japanese commanders.

Luring the afternoon, British vessels lying off Hsiapanshen, 20 miles up the river from Nanking in the concentration areas, supposed to be- immune from hostilities, were subjected to bombing.

Japanese Commander Expresses Regret A report from Shanghai says the Japanese commander, Admiral Hasigawa, visited H.M.S. Folkestone there, and expressed to the senior British naval officer the deepest regrets for the attack on British gunboats, promising that his Government would consider reparations. The British and American Ambassadors in Toklo called on the Japanese Foreign Minister, it is understood, with regard to the Yangtse incident, which will be the subject of a statement in the House of Commons this afternoon, when private notice has been given of a question regarding them.

Colonel Hash! Mo.to, commanding the Wuhu area, informed British authorities that shipping must not move anywhere on the Yangtse during the next three days. Ships disobeying will be fired on.