TIGHTER BLOCKADE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 June 1939, Page 5

TIGHTER BLOCKADE

JAPANESE ACTION AND THREATS AT TIENTSIN

FRENCH INTIMATION

FOOD SUPPLIES STOPPED

Arrogant and High-handed Attitude

FOOD SHORTAGE BECOMING WORSE

MORE RUMOURS OF POSSIBLE ARBITRATION

By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright. LONDON, June IS. The Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax, returned to London from Yorkshire today after receipt of the latest information by telephone from the Foreign Office in relation to China and Japan. It is understood that a .British reprisals plan against Japan is ready. • i According to the Domei News Agency, Japanese official circles declare that should Britain take steps lor reprisals Japan will be constrained to take the necessary measures to meet the. situation. “What Japan wants is a radical implement of such British policy as is manifested in the non-sur-render of the four criminals,” the agency declares. Ihe British statement made in London yesterday is described as intended to whitewash a. serious blonder as regards the assassins. A message from Tokio says rumours are circulating legarding the possibility of either French or American arbitration to settle the deadlock. The American Consul-General in Tientsin, Mr Caldwell, is specially mentioned, for this task. The commander of the Japanese in Tientsin rejected a British request for an interview, saying it was useless. The present situation which has developed was a protest against Britain’s pro-Chinese policy. The commander added that economic retaliation was impossible without the participation of the United States. . It is reported that 1000 British troops, together with volunteers, are standing by in the concession, prepared for any emergency and that the barricades have been strengthened. The blockade has reduced the entry of vegetables, fish and rice bv nine-tenths.

Despite renewed British protests, the Japanese have continued their discrimination against British subjects at the entrances to the concession, where hundreds of farmers bringing provisions have been turned back after all-night vigils. British consular officials deny that the Japanese have presented Jorma 1 conditions for lifting the blockade. Reuters’ Tientsin correspondent says the food shortage is rapidly becoming worse. The Japanese have now placed motor patrol boats on the Ilai River for the purpose of turning back all boats laden with vegetables for the concession.

OFFER OF CO OPERATION SITUATION IN TIENTSIN.. SOME REPORTED OUTRAGES. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. LONDON, June 18. It is understood that the French Foreign Minister, M Bonnet, indicated to the British Ambassador in France, Sir Eric Phipps, and the American Charge d’Affaires, Mr Wilson, that France will co-operate fully in any action Britain and America may deem necessary in Tientsin. The British concession authorities have placed an embargo on stocks of flour, including those held by Japanese, who describe the action as fresh provocation, states a message from Tokio.

The Exchange Telegraph’s Hong Kong correspondent says that Japanese sources state that H.M.S. Lowestoft from Chingwangtao, and H.M.S. Medway from Weihawei are steaming to Tientsin with provisions for the concession. It is thought in London, that it is unlikely that British warships would be used to take food to the concession in Tientsin, where there is no great hardship. The intense heat is aggravating the food situation, Tientsin reports. Few British subjects ventured out today. Trade is at a standstill except for transactions between the banks. A British tug made the first successful trip to Tangku since the blockade. It was stopped only once for examination of its documents and cargo, RUSSIAN SHOT DEAD. A Japanese sentry shot dead a Russian at point-blank range while examining his credentials. An English witness, whom the sentry threatened with his revolver, said the killing was inexplicable. Mr George Smith, was admitted to hospital with head injuries resulting from blows from a Chinese constable’s revolver butt. Chinese police in Shanghai, under orders from the Japanese, entered the International Settlement and tried to reopen the police station which the British authorities closed down three months ago. British troops found

Chinese removing the barbed-wire barricades round the station. The Chinese were forced to withdraw, whereupon the barricades were replaced. After the departure of the troops the Chinese returned with revolvers drawn and posted a guard opposite the station.

The Sino-Japanese political party in Peking is conducting a publicity campaign under the slogans, “Don’t Deal with British Shops and Banks,” “Take Back the Concession,” “To Fight the National Government We Must Defeat Britain First,” and “British Merchants Are Squeezing Our Blood and Flesh.”

PATROL BOATS ON MAI RIVER. (Received This Day, 9.30 a.m.) TIENTSIN, June 18. Japanese patrol boats on the Hai River are turning back Chinese foodladen craft, thus making the blockade complete. Chinese and Japanese held an antiBritish rally in the Japanese Concession. Bursts of machine-gun fire provided the day’s only alarm, but this proved to be Japanese target practice near the British Concession. NAZIS PLEASED UNDISGUISED SATISFACTION EXPRESSED. LONDON, June 17. A message from Berlin states that the Press shows undisguised satisfaction over Britain’s difficulties in Tientson. The “National Zeitung” gloats: “The encirclers are encircled.” The official German news agency claims to have accurate knowledge that the Far East is the keypoint of the British-French negotiations with Moscow. The British United Press correspondent in Tientsin states that the German merchants have ceased to trade with the British and French concessions. They are not claiming against Japan for recovery of losses arising out of the< blockade. It is significant that the Japanese are not hindering the passage of Germans through the barricades.