BRITISH TROOPS ON THAI BORDER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 5 August 1941, Page 5

BRITISH TROOPS ON THAI BORDER

EXPECTATION OF TROUBLE MORE JAPANESE FORCES IN INDOCHINA (Rec. ‘J. 30 a.m.) London, Aug. 4. The Saigon correspondent ol the Associated Press of Great Britain says Britain has placed thousands of the finest troops, mainly Australians and the best Indian regiments, on the Malaya- I hailand border in expectation of trouble with the Japanese. I hey are fully equipped, not only with tanks and heavy artillery, but also with secret weapons specially designed for jungle warfare. Everywhere along the border are British forces, including an air force, and the British are preparing accommodation for thousands of additional Australian infantrymen. Well-informed circles in Bangkok assert that Japan is demanding bases in I hailand and access to raw materials. In the meantime I hai armies are pouring into the border zones. Military observers in Shanghai regard the garrisoning of 40,000 Japanese and 400 planes in southern Indo-China as too large for purposes other than expansion. I he Japanese Vice-Admiral Niimi has arrived at Saigon to con* ler with the French military and naval officials. Thousands of additional Japanese troops have arrived there and also large stocks of munitions and gasoline. The British United Press correspondent at I okio reports that newspapers have adopted a very pessimistic view of JapaneseAmerican relations. To-day the “Asahi Shimbun” (Tokio) said: "I here is no room for readjustment because the American attitude is increasingly hostile. I hrough the self-conceit of the United States waves in the Pacific are rising higher. We are resolved to meet the worst.”

According to a British United Press report from Tokio, all Japanese ships; 1 have suspended sailings for the United i States indefinitely. A later message says the cancellation jof sailings to America has raised I serious problems, for more than 100 ' Americans booked by the Nitta Maru who had sold their homes and furniture I and reserve food Reports indicate i tha'. the food problem is becoming ! serious. The shipping suspension has ! almost isolated Americans and other j foreigners in Japan because bookings to I Shanghai are unobtainable. Ships are 'sailing to Shanghai from Nagasaki, but ; police travel restrictions prevent foreigners from reaching Nagasaki. DAMAGE TO JAPANESE CROPS The Agriculture Minister of Japan. Mr Ino. after touring the flood zones jin the Chiba and Ibaraki prefectures, I said he was surprised at the extensive j damage to crops, and stressed the I urgency for an immediate increase in ) agricultural output. He admonished ' farmers not to abandon themselves to despair. Mr Ino said soldiers were undergoing greater hardships at the ! front. RATIONING IN MAXCHUKI’O I The Domei News Agency's Hsinking j correspondent states that Manchukuo : has rationed rice, flour, dairy products. ! salt, sugar, matches, cotton goods and rubber shoes in order to stabilise distribution. JAPANESE SHIP FREED BY U.S. COURT San Francisco, Aug. 3. A Federal Court has lifted the claims | made by 18 American firms aginst the cargo of the Japanese steamer j Tatuta Maru and the shipping company announced that the vessel will sail for Japan to-day.