Japan Prepares Another Note To Britain

Northern Advocate, 30 January 1940, Page 5

Japan Prepares Another Note To Britain

LONDON, January 29. The spokesman for the Japanese Foreign Office in Tokio said today that a new Note to Britain regarding the stopping by the British cruiser of the liner Asama Maru and the removal of 22 Germans from the ship was being prepared.

He said the dispute might reach a point at which Japan would demand the surrender of the German seamen.

He admitted that Britain was on “favourable grounds” from the legal standpoint, but Japan also, was legally correct and had suffered damage to her national prestige.

Food" Shortage At Concessions,

A message from Tientsin says Japanese sentries today electrified the barbed wire and tightened the blockade round the British and French Concessions, creating a severe food shortage.

The gradual relaxation of the blockade, which had permitted the passage of food and some trade, has ended abruptly.

This is apparently due to the Asama Maru incident and the expiration of the U.S. commercial treaty, although the Japanese spokesmen insists that it is due only to the activities of antiJapanese elements within the barriers.