TRAFFIC IN ARMS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21159, 8 July 1940, Page 9

TRAFFIC IN ARMS

BRITAIN AND JAPAN NO REPLY TO DEMAND REASON FOR DELAY United Press Assn.—wee. Tei. Copyright) LONDON, July 6 It is reported from Tokio that the British Ambassador to Japan. Sir Robert Craigie, is anxiously awaiting, but has not received from London, the British Government’s reply to the Japanese demand for the cessation of the arms traffic to China through Burma and Honkong. Although Sir Robert has informed the Japanese Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr M. Tani, that the delay is due to consultation, the Japanese are not impressed, and continue to attribute it to a desire on the part of Britain and the Chiang Kai-shek Government to solicit American support in order to circumvent Japan. It is stated from Shanghai that the British Consul, “ as a precautionary measure,” has suspended the clearance papers of British ships scheduled to sail for Indo-China. This decision is a result of Marshal Petain's orders to the French to fire on British ships off French territory. The Japanese Government is promulgating an ordinance to become effective on Sunday—the third anniversary of the outbreak of hostilities in China—prohibiting the manufacture of articles and commodities which are considered to be luxuries. Threat to Britain A Shanghai press correspondent reports that the Japanese naval attache, Vice-Admiral Kori, said that “ The slightest British provocation in the Pacific will be answered by actions by the Japanese fleets.” He declared that the British attack at Oran was “an act of despair which might be repeated at any time in some other part of the world.”