TENSION IN MANCHURIA

Taranaki Daily News, 21 December 1931, Page 5

TENSION IN MANCHURIA

FEAR OF MORE FIGHTING

DEMANDS BY THE JAPANESE

CLEARANCE OF BANDITS

NAVAL FORCES WAITING

By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. Reo. 5.6 p.m. Tokio, Dec. 19.

Chinchow reports indicate that the position is increasingly grave. Naval forces in North China are being kept in readiness to land and fighting, on a large scale is expected hourly, the Japanese having ordered the area to be cleared of bandits, while the Chinese main army has withdrawn to Lanchow. UNITED STATES NOTE TO JAPAN. OBLIGATIONS UNDER PEACE PACT Washington, Dec. 19. A new expression of concern over the •Manchurian dispute in friendly but positive terms has been communicated to Japan by the United States Government. The Ambassador, Mr. Forbes, on instructions from the Secretary of .State, Mr. H. L. Stimson, again emphasised to the Japanese Foreign Office the solicitude of the United States that the obligations under the Nine-Power and Kel-logg-'Briand Treaties be respected. No formal communication was delivered to the Foreign Office, but the United States’ attitude was again expressed verbally by the Ambassador. STUDENT MOVEMENT SCOTCHED. SURPRISE ROUND-UP EFFECTED. Shanghai, Dec. 18. The Nanking student movement was scotched last night. Government troops surprised and surrounded the students encampment, escorted Shanghai, Peiping and Tsinan, students to the railway stations, where special trains were under steam ready for instant departure. The students were compelled to go on board, and were despatched to their respective homes. The entire proceedings occupied a couple of hours, and the capital was entirely rid of unruly elements. The Central Daily News, a Government organ, was wrecked yesterday in the students’ riots, but appeared to-day in an abbreviated form, announcing that the printing plant was a total wreck. One member of the paper’s staff was seized and stabbed to death. Two students were drowned in a creek when escaping from the soldiers.