JAPANESE TALKS WITH AMERICA

Southland Times, Issue 24536, 10 September 1941, Page 5

JAPANESE TALKS WITH AMERICA

NO INFORMATION YET NEW AMBASSADOR TO GO TO LONDON (Rec. 8 p.m.) TOKYO, September 9. The chairman of the Information Board, Mr Kunjiro Ishii, said the most important question now so far as Japan is concerned is the JapaneseAmerican discussions. “However, I am sorry I cannot say anything about them yet,” he said. Mr Ishii said Japan was sending a new Ambassador to London soon in place of Mr Mamoru Shigemitsu. However, he was unable to give his name. He said Britain was not involved as yet in the Japanese-American discussions. He said the unratified Japanese-Russian Trade Treaty will soon be submitted to the Privy Council for ratification. The leader of the pro-Axis Tohokai Association, Mr Saigo Nakano, who dis-

agrees with the present trehd of Government policy, announced that he was delivering an address entitled “Live Like a Lion,” at a mass meeting on Sunday. SOUTH SEAS EXPANSION The Governor-General of Formosa. Admiral Seizo Kobayashi, writing in the Kokumin Shimbun, said that while the South Seas were vital to Japan’s economy, “when you get the idea that the common prosperity sphere is going to be a Japanese monopoly you will be unable to achieve a co-prosperity sphere. Southern Asia natives will combine with the present rule in fighting against Japan if Japan becomes merely another invader.” Having come to the conclusion that Japan’s main duty lies in defending East Asia from an extension of the war and interference by third powers, the Japanese Press is now urging Marshal Chiang Kai-shek, the Chinese Commander-in-Chief, to give up his resistance in order to liberate East Asia from the burden of the white man, says the Tokyo correspondent of The New York Times, Otto D. Tolischus. The Hochi Shimbun calls upon Chiang Kai-shek not to be a jackal to the British and American tiger. It pleads with him to engage in serious reflection, ask the pardon of the people for his past misconduct and promptly liquidate himself.

A commentator, Mr Teeichi Muto, in an open letter to Chiang Kai-shek, calls him a black ingrate and says his anti-Japanism is enough to cause his benefactor, Dr Sun Yat-sen, to weep in the nether world.

Mr Muto adds that on Japan’s shoulders hangs the destiny of all Asia, including China. “This is the time when you should liquidate your past attitude,” it says to Chiang Kai-shek.

JAPANESE EFFORT TO SECURE INDIES

(Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 9. The Daily Telegraph says the Dutch Government in London revealed that on the day Germany invaded Holland, May 10, 1940, the Japanese Minister at The Hague presented a Note to the Netherlands Foreign Minister (Dr Ellco van Kieffens) which, if met, would have meant the capitulation of the Netherlands East Indies to Japan. The Dutch Government was prepared to allow Japan to obtain raw materials for her own use, but refused to give up the East Indies. SEARCH FOR SHOGUNS’ GOLD LONDON, September 8. A Japanese treasure hunter claims that he is about to unearth £172,000,000 worth of gold buried 250 feet in the ground, says The New York Times Tokyo correspondent. The treasure represents the war chest of the Tokugawa Shoguns, rulers of Japan for 264 years until the power of the Emperors was restored in 1868. The treasure was buried 100 years ago by a man who killed all who knew of the hiding place. He left vague directions in his will. The treasure hunter, who claims to be nearing it, is this man’s grandson. He has been searching for seven years. At 220 feet he found human bones and a sword as stated in the will. The gold is expected to be found another 30 feet down.