ESPIONAGE SUSPECTED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 306, 27 December 1937, Page 7

ESPIONAGE SUSPECTED

JAPANESE LINER BOARDED j U.S.A. CUSTOMS SEARCH LETTERS Received Dec. 24. 7 p.m. i NEW YORK, Dec. 24. ! | The San Francisco Chronicle states 1 I that Customs agents boarefed the Japa- I j nese liner Tatsuta Maru just before she sailed from San Francisco on 'Thursday and seized a sheaf of letters, } ■ reputedly linked with a coastwise | ■ espionage plot concerning the Brem- i ; erton Washington navy yard. The Chronicle adds: “It Is known ‘that in recent weeks both Customs i agents and postal inspectors re- ' doubled their vigilance for the pur- ; pose of intercepting suspicious letters I addressed to undisclosed Far Eastern | i destinations.” i 1 It is stated that the loiters reported; Ito be taken from the Tatsuta Maru i were not stamped and were entrusted] ito an unidentified party aboard. ; REPORTED CAPTURE OF HANGKOW ; JAPANESE FORCES ADVANCE. Received Dec. 2-1. 7 p.m. SHANGHAI, Dec. 21. | Japanese sources report that Japanese troops occupied Hangkow at 8 a.m. and drove out the Chinese forces from positions in the West Lake area. MORE MAIL SEIZED REPORTS OF ESPIONAGE GROW MEXICO CO-OPEKATING IVITU U.S.A. | PATROL Ob’ CALIFORNIAN 1 Received Dec. 26, 8 p.m. NEW YORK, Dec. 25. ] A message from San Francisco ■ says that the navy has tightened up patrot of California waters, while Customs officials made further seizures of mail aboard I Japanese liners. These reports ' give further impetus to the news that the Government is actively I investigating a possible wideI spread espionage plot. Packets containing appioxii mately four hundred letters an; reported to have been seized ] aboard the Hokka. Maru, the Ki- ‘ nai Maru and a third unnamed Japanese vessel at Los Angeles. | The mail did not go through the j regular postal channels, but was I included with the company papers ' in packages handled only by com- : pany agents. j It Is reported unollicially that the Mexican Government is co | operating with the I uited States ' in checking and inspecting “alien j craft.’’ It is rumoured that Mexico sent several armed patrol ■ boats to the Mexican west coast. Another report says one of Mexico’s new super gunboats has been assigned to patrol and j check the activities of the tuna j fishing Heels of! Southern Calij forma. Alien hydrographic experts ] ' were discovered making sound- i j ings charts in Southern Cali- . I forman waters. PANAY NEWSREELS i SPECIAL GUARD Of G-MEN, : Received Doc. 26. 11.30 p.m. SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 25. G-men are meeting the China Clipper on December 27 to guard the Panay newsreels. Universal Pictures announced they will be shown at an unexpurgated edition. Jirstly at Washington before President RooseVelt and the State Department and thereafter throughout U.S.A. | ’ DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH CHINA I JAPANESE PLANS MADE. ■ ■ I i Received Dec. 26, 10 p.m. TOKIO, Dec. 25. Cabinet has approved of a plan for the economic development of North China by means of a holding company controlling a number of subsidiaries. The Asahi Shim bun understands that Cabinet has also worked out a plan to develop a greater Shanghai and form a new city district at Woosung. BOATS OFF CALIFORNIA MANY JAPANESE ( RAFT U.S.A. DESTROYERS ON GUARD SAN DIEGO, Dec. 23. I Japanese boats on the American ] registry are engaged in tuna fishing ; and operate from San Diego Harbour, which on Tuesday night was closed to ah boats. Any boats encroaching on that area may be halted and searched according to navy regulations. It is stated that the crew of at least one or the boats is entirely Japanese. It is significant that the navy’s two newest and most powerful destroyers, Balch and McDougal, have now taken over the patrol of the Southern Californian coast, in which it is indicated ■ that the Air Force might join. Howex er, there is the same secrecy by high naval authorities in answer to inquiries. Air Force officials, denying that they had been ordered to stand by, nevertheless revealed that 500 navy ’planes are based north of the island. A United Press message to New York from San Diego states that it is also signilicant that guards were placed on all naval craft in Mare Island yard, San Francisco Bay, on Wednesday night, hinting that battleships, submarines, and transports might participate in the patrol of the Southern Californian coast, in which at present only destroyers and cruisers are engaged. Meanwhile,

armed launches patrolled San Diego Bay for the third consecutive night, and it was announced that they will continue until further orders. Although visitors are not barred from Mare Island yard, they are questioned very closely before being allowed to proceed. The high naval authorities are still maintaining the patrol, etc., and routine training. The captain of Mare Island, Lieutenant-Commander John Wilkes, stated that the regulation referring to visitors has been operating for four years. “We have just decided to enforce it.” The commander of the eleventh naval district, Rear-Admiral Sinclair Gannon, professed ignorance of the developments, and asked reporters to keep him informed. He added: “I honestly mean that.” The Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet, Rear-Admiral Arthur J. Hep« burn, declined to comment to the •United Press.