DRUGS TO AID WAR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 245, 15 October 1937, Page 8

DRUGS TO AID WAR

CHARGES AGAINST JAPAN LONDON TIMES DISBELIEVED " CHINESE PROPAGANDA.” [ Per Press Association. ] AUCKLAND, Oct. 14. “More Chinese propaganda,” was the term used by Mr. Bunshirow Suzuki, director of the Asahi Newspapers,' Tokio and Osaka, who is at present on a health visit to the Domonion, to describe a statement by the London Times that a deliberate attempt is being made by Japanese to demoralise the Chinese by means of drugs. Mr. Suzuki made it clear he attached no importance to the allegation, which he placed in the same category as lhe various horror stories attributed by him to Chinese endeavours to excite sympathy. Mr. Suzuki said the drug traffic in China was in many hands, and he would not deny that some Japanese were engaged in it. Equally involved, however, were French and Americans, while a major part in the traffic was played by British people in Hongkong. For example,, the British Administration controlled opium traffic by means of a licence system. Many aspects of the story published by the Times were criticised by Mr. Suzuki. He said that in the first place, with the outbreak of hostilities between China and Japan, Japanese merchants had abandoned their premises and returned to their native country, Japanese trade in China being at a standstill at present. Moreover, there could be no question of forcing drugs on Chinese, who would buy if they wanted to without being forced.