JAPAN WARNED

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVII, Issue 23215, 31 May 1945, Page 5

JAPAN WARNED

Treatment Of Prisoners WASHINGTON. May 29. „ T he State Department announced that the United States has rejected the Japanese protests against the sinking of the Awamaru on April C°Pi es °f Notes between the United States and Japan, exchanged through the Swiss Government, reveal that Japan claimed that the sinking was the most outrageous act of treachery, and said that the United States was deemed to have abandoned her former desire relating to the treatment of United States prisoners of war and civilian internees in Japanese hands. The American Note said that the United States regrets such heavy loss of life, but the death roll resulted partly from survivors’ refusal to accept the lifelines thrown from a submarine which remained at the scene making every effort to rescue survivors. The Note asserted that there was no valid connection between the sinking and the way the Japanese treated prisoners of war. “The Japanese Government is hereby put on notice that any retaliatory acts against Allied nationals in Japanese custody will be a matter of the gravest concern,” the Note added. “This Government or any persons issuing or executing orders in this connection will be severely dealt witli at the appropriate time.”