JAPANESE PLOT SUSPECTED

Southland Times, Issue 23392, 27 December 1937, Page 7

JAPANESE PLOT SUSPECTED

LETTERS SEIZED ON LINER NAVAL PATROL OF WESTERN COAST OF U.S.A. (Received December 26, 7.30 p.m.) SAN FRANCISCO, December 25. The San Francisco Chronicle states that United States Customs agents boarded the Japanese liner Tatsuta Maru just before it sailed from San Francisco on Thursday and seized a sheaf of letters reputedly linked with a coastal espionage plot. ■ “It is known that in recent weeks both Customs agents and postal inspectors have redoubled their vigilance lor the purpose of intercepting suspicious letters addressed to undisclosed Far Eastern destinations,” says The San Francisco Chronicle. It is stated that the letters reported to have been taken from the Tatsuta Maru were not stamped but were entrusted to an unidentified party aboard the ship. High naval officers still maintain that the patrols of the Californian and so on are simply routine and training. Similarly, the acting captain of Mare Island, Lieutenant-Commander John Wilkes, stated that the regulation about visitors had existed for four years. “We just decided to enforce it,” he said. The Commander of the 11th Naval District (Rear-Admiral Sinclair Gannon) professed ignorance of the developments and asked the reporters to keep him informed. He added: I honestly mean that.” The Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet (Rear-Admiral Arthur J. Hepbum) declined to comment. The Japanese boats are ot American registry and are engaged in tuna fishing. They operate from San Diego harbour, which on Tuesday night was closed to all boats. Those encroaching from anywhere are now subject to being halted and searched according to the Navy regulations. It is stated that the crew of at least one of the boats was entirely Japanese. Significantly, the United States Navy’s two newest and most powerful destroyers, the Balch and the McDougal, have now taken over the patrol of the coast of southern California, in which it is indicated that the air force, may join. About this, however, the same secrecy exists. High naval officers referred inquirers to the air force command, who denied that they had been ordered to stand by. Nevertheless, it is revealed that 500 naval planes have been stationed at the North Island base. , Guards were placed on all naval craft at the Mare Island yard in San Francisco Bay on Wednesday night, hinting that battleships, submarines and transports, might participate in the patrol of the southern California coast in which at present only destroyers and cruisers are engaged. Meanwhile armed launches patrolled San Diego Bay for the third consecutive night and it was announced that this would continue until further orders. In the meantime, although visitors are not barred in the Mare Island yard they are questioned closely before they are allowed to proceed.