EASTERN WAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23034, 11 May 1938, Page 15

EASTERN WAR

I SHELLING OF ISLAND JAPANESE WARSHIPS WARNING TO FOREIGNERS OCCUPATION OF AMOY By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received May 11, 12.15 a.m.) LONDON, May 10 Japanese warships shelled the town and island of Amoy, 300 miles north-east of Hongkong, and launched an attack on the island. Aeroplanes dropped leaflets on the adjacent island of Kulangsu intimating that Amoy would be occupied and warning foreigners and foreign ships to depart. The Japanese claim to have captured the walled city of Mencheng, 75 miles south of the Lunghai railway, says a message from Tokio. Another force, after crossing the Hwai River, reached the Kuchen, 65 miles from Suchow. The Chinese expect the Japanese to attempt to breach the railway west of Suchow. The Japanese Prime Minister, Prince Konoye, predicts a definite war development justifying the union of the Peking and Nanking Governments. The police throughout Japan are black-listing all Left Wing scholars and authors with the view to checking Popular Front tendencies.

BITTER CHARGES INVADERS' RUTHLESSNESS DR. WELLINGTON KOO APPEAL TO THE LEAGUE (Received May 11, 12.30 a.m.) GENEVA, May 10 Dr. Wellington Koo, Chinese delegate to the League of Nations, notified the Council to-day that the Japanese had used gas on the Shantung front several times in a desperate effort to overcome resistance. Dr. Koo informed the Council that Japan intended a large-scale employment of poison gas on the Shantung front. He demanded invocation of the

Covenant in order to prevent such an infamous crime and vindicate the League principles. Although China, with* a major .victory at Taierhchwang, had turned the tide of battle and shattered the myth of Japanese invincibility, said Dr. Koo, she still needed war materials. No nation except one, in spite of the League resolutions, had done anything to assist her.

Japan's armed forces numbered 1,000,000. Her lack of success had driven her to increased ruthlessness, including the wanton slaughter by bombs of non-combatants, unprecedented violence to women and children and the massacre of hundreds of male civilians.

AIR RAID VICTIMS MANY CHINESE KILLED HOMES OF OTHERS BURNT SHANGHAI, May 9 The director of the Red Cross „ at Shanghai, Dr. McClure, who has returned from Nansuchow, which was bombed on May 5, estimates that 370 people were killed, of whom 100 died in the Italian Catholic Mission, which was a shambles of blood, misery and terror. At Chungking, 100 Chinese were killed and injured and 700 homes burnt, while 30,000 people are homeless as the result of fires in the poorer quarters. CANADIAN FINED RELEASE AFTER PAYMENT OTTAWA, May 9 A message from Tokio reports the release of the Canadian Mr. Joseph Gilbertson—who was arrested by Japanese in Osaka on May 5 on a charge of possessing snapshots of Japanese fortified zones—on his payment of a fine of 30 yen. He is proceeding to Vancouver.