DEATH OF JAPANESE OFFICER

Southland Times, Issue 22918, 17 June 1936, Page 5

DEATH OF JAPANESE OFFICER

CHARGES AGAINST BRITISH SOLDIERS. MR EDEN EXPLAINS POSITION. (British Official Wireless.) Rugby, June 15. Reference was made in the House of Commons to the death of a Japanese officer at Peiping on May 26, in connection with which allegations appeared incriminating soldiers belonging to the British Embassy guard. Recalling the fact that a preliminary investigation, set on foot by the British Embassy as soon as the reports appeared in the local Press, had established that there had been no British troops either on pass or on duty outside their own quarters at the time when the accident was stated to have taken place, the Foreign Secretary (Mr R. A. Eden) stated that after the receipt of official notification from the Japanese Embassy, a British Military Court of Inquiry had been set up on June 1. Meanwhile, when permission had been requested for the body of the murdered man to be examined by the doctor to his Majesty’s Embassy he was informed that it had been cremated on May 29— that is, on the day before the Japanese Note was handed in. The Court of Inquiry had effectively confirmed the result of the preliminary investigations, said Mr Eden. The Japanese Embassy, how'ever, subsequently submitted the testimonies of a number of witnesses of Japanese or Korean extraction in support of the original Japanese allegations. . 'These witnesses asserted that they had identified three members of the British Embassy guard as being involved in certain disturbances which took place on the night of the murder. Investigations were proceeding and the witnesses mentioned were to be examined by the Court of Inquiry, said Mr Eden.