CHINA’S PLIGHT

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 48, 18 February 1932, Page 2

CHINA’S PLIGHT

Refusal To Withdraw JAPAN SURE TO WIN. WILL FORCE A VICTORY. By Telegraph—Copyright— Press Assn. SHANGHAI, February 17. Despite the combined efforts of the British, American, French and Italian Ministers to persuade the Chinese to withdraw in accordance with the wishes of the Japanese as a preliminary step towards peace, there is little prospect of the Chinese agreeing. Heavy reinforcements are arriving daily and their lines are being strengthened by a wide system of trench work radiating from Chapei. “The Times” correspondent at Shanghai says the situation entails a tragedy to China whatever happens. The Chinese intend to withstand the invaders to the utmost. The Japanese, chagrined at failures, are determined to vindicate their military reputation and should eventually be able to crash a way to any objective, because they can be reinforced indefinitely and must finally win. The more the Chinese fight the more the Japanese can reinforce. The more it costs Japan to win the harsher can be the ultimate terms of .“settlement. BRITISH SAILORS WOUNDED. BRITISH PROPERTY DAMAGED. By Telegraph—Copyright—Press Assn. SHANGHAI, February 17. During the usual nightly bombardment shells fell in the dock district of the international settlement, seriously wounding two British sailors and damaging wharves and pontoons, British property. WOOSUNG FORTS. STILL HOLDING OUT. SHANGHAI, February 17. Chinese troops brought ten “seventy-five” guns of the World AVar period into action against the Japanese yesterday in the Hong Kew area of the International Settlement. The Japanese replied to the big gun attack, but neither side made am attempt to advance. The artillery fire died down shortly after midnight. The sound of the 75 millimetre pieces, and of trench mortars, echoed through the Settlement as the shells fell in the Japanese defence area. At eleven p.m. on Tuesday the bombardment was intense and several shells crashed near the Japanese Club and the Hong Kew Police station, hurling earth and stones high into the air. The Japanese fire started a conflagration close to one of the Chinese batteries near the north station, centre of Chapei defence lines. The flames leaped up suddenly, casting a bright red light over the Chinese positions. Members of the Settlement volunteer corps, in observation

posts north of the Settlement, saw the Chinese, firing their artillery. A desultory bombardment also was renewed at the Woosung forts, down the Whangpoo river. “My men have decided to stick with me,” General Yung Chow Huan, the garrison commander at Woosung, said. “When Woosung goes, we go with it.” NARROW ESCAPE OF TYPIST. By Telegraph—Copyright— Press Assn. SHANGHAI, February 17. Miss Margaret Nash, a typist in the British Consulate, was hanging up her coat after lunch, when a bullet crashed through the window, traversing her desk. Mr J. F. Brenan, Consul-General, was in the next room. APPEAL BY LEAGUE. By Telegraph—Copyright—Press Assio RUGBY, February 16. The Committee of Twelve of the League Council to-day despatched a message to Japan regarding the situation at Shanghai. The text has not yet been polished, but Press telegrams state that the members of the Council, while recognising the difficulties with which Japan has been faced, recall her responsibilities as one of the principal partners in the world organisation for the maintainance of peace, and appeal to her to show restraint. It is understood that the message also recalls the terms of Article 10 of the Covenant in the sense related to the principle already affirmed by the American Government, whereby the acquisition by force of any territories would not be recognised. RET,’ORT CHALLENGED By Telegraph—Copyright—Press Assn. KOBE, February 16. The Japanese naval authorities deny many of the affirmations regarding their actions made in the Shanghai Consular’s reports to Geneva, including such statements as that nineteen Japanese aeroplanes flew over Shanghai on January 31, and that Japanese marines interfered with municipal functions.