JAPAN PROTESTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21560, 24 January 1940, Page 7

JAPAN PROTESTS

Seizure Of German Seamen “Serious and Unfriendly Act” United Ptess Association— Bv Electric Telegraph—Copyrlsht TOKIO. January 22. Japan has formally protested against the British seizure of the German sailors from the Asama Maru. It was described as a serious, unfriendly act, the Note declaring that forcible measures were used to remove the Germans when the Asama Maru’s captain declined to surrender them. The Note demanded a prompt, full, and valid explanation, and reserved the right to demand the return of the seamen. It warned that any repetition would aggravate Japanese antiBritish sentiment. The Asama Maru. which was stopped by a British warship on Saturday was 35 miles off the coast of Japan at the time.

The 21 Germans taken off the ship, who were all of military age, were the crews of oil tankers who would have

been most useful in the German war effort. The Domei News Agency states that 30 other Germans, mostly merchants, were allowed to continue their journey. Passengers reported that the Asama Maru had sighted land when she was challenged by the cruiser. She continued until a shot was fired across her bows. The boarding party of three officers and nine men, acting with the utmost .courtesy, completed their examination in 90 minutes. A message from San Francisco says that the captured sailors were former members of the crew of the Standard Oil Company’s New Jersey tankers. All the Columbus seamen are still in San Francisco.

Another report from New York says that the Standard Oil Company’s plans to return several hundred seamen to Germany across the Pacific will probably be abandoned as a result of the seizure. .