THE CHINA MAIL, FEBRUARY 14, 1939
MR. BUTLER BOMBARDED
WITH
CHINA
BRITAIN TO
PRESS RAILWAY QUESTION
London, To-day.
A series of questions was put in regard to China in
the House of Commons yesterday. Mr. I. C. Hannah (Conservative, Bilston) brought
up the question of relations between the Bri- tish Concession in Tientsin and the Japanese authorities there.
QUERIES
FRENCH DENIAL
Paris, To-day.
The Japanese report that 49 French airmen have gone or are going to assist the Chinese Gov- ernment, is officially denied in Paris. Reuter.
NEW ZEALAND IMPORT SCHEME DISPUTE
NEW RAID SHELTERS PASS STIFF TEST
LONDON, TO-DAY-
IN CONNECTION WITH A.R.P. THE LORD PRIVY SEAL AN- NOUNCED YESTERDAY THAT APPROVAL OF PARLIAMENT WOULD BE SOUGHT FOR AN IMMEDIATE START ON A PRO GRAMME COSTING . £1,000,000 FOR PROVISION OF-FIFTY HOLIDAY CAMPS..
The camps would be designed to accommodate 350 in peace time and 8,500 under wartime conditions, when they would be used as supple- The New Zealand Solicitor-Gen-ment billeting under evacuation
Wellington, To-day.
The Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mr. R. A. Butler, in his reply referred to the representa- tions made to the local Japanese authorities and the Japanese Government in regard to the restrictions on movements imposed on the ground of precautions against`anti-Japanese eral has declined to issue a sum-schemes: activities.
Mr. Butler said the situation, by His Majesty's' Ambassador would continue to be closely Tokyo on January 14. watched.
Replying to questions by Mr. A. C. Moreing (Conservative, Preston) Mr. Butler pointed out that the Government had made] representations to both Govern- ments which at different times had been responsible for closure of the Pearl River.
They proposed to continue to take all possible steps to secure re-opening of the river.
RAILWAY INTERESTS
FEDERAL CURRENCY
also made public
mons to enable the Bureau of Results were Importers to test the validity of yesterday of tests carried out at in the Government's import control buryness which showed that steel the experimental ranges, at Shoe-
scheme.
The Solicitor-General added that Mr. Hannah asked a question in he was not prepared to facilitate regard to the Japanese authorities' such action. refusal to authorise the Federal The Bureau states the matter Reserve Bank and Japanese banks still rests in the hands of their to sell foreign exchange against solicitors. Reuter. Federal Reserve Bank currency.
He suggested that representa- tions be made to the Japanese Government in regard to the "futility of asking for recognition of a currency which is not permit- ted to be the medium of exchange.” Mr. Butler replied that the. Gov- ernment did not feel that such re-
presentations would serve any use-
ANOTHER MATA HARI DIES
Chengchow, To-day.
air-raid shelters, free distribution of which to families in lower in- come groups is expected to com- . mence at the end of the month, will, if sunk in the ground and covered with earth as recommended by the authorities, afford protection to the occupants from high explosive bomba falling within thirty feet.
SHELTERS INTACT
In yesterday's experiment, a 500- lb. medium case high explosive bomb was electrically detonated, and although the explosion tore a The famous Japanese. "Mata huge crater in the earth and prac- tically demolished a substantially built structure representing a row of two storey houses, the shelters although brick- remained intact work from the blown-up buildings crashed down upon them,--British Wireless.
In regard to negotiations with the Japanese Government in re-ful purpose at this juncture, since Hari", Miss Yoshimko Kawashima, gard to British interests in the
the Japanese Government was who was critically wounded when Shanghai - Nanking, Shanghai -
already aware of their view that she was attacked by unidentified Hangchow and Peiping-Mukden establishment of an inconvertible assailants at Tientsin recently, suc- Railways, Mr. Butler said his currency in North China was cal-cumbed to her wounds yesterday. position remained as stated in the culated to be injurious to the
The alleged Japanese female зру, answer he gave on December 21.
was of striking beauty, had The question had been under
been very active in North China.-- examination with a view to de-
Central News. ciding what further action was likely to be effective.
Mr. Moreing urged Mr. Butler to press the matter, and said that on December 21 the matter al- ready had been under considera- tion for months.
Mr. Butler: Certainly.
SHANGHAI NEGOTIATIONS
In a further reply to Mr. Moreing, Mr. Butler said the question of resumption of control by the Shanghai Municipal Coun- cil over the districts of Yangtse- poo and Hongkew was now be- ing discussed between the Coun- cil and the local Japanese au- thorities.
Pending result of these discus- sions it was not proposed to ap- proach the Japanese Government in this connection.
•
Replying to Commander A. Mars- den (Conservative, Chertsey) Mr. Butler said the British Consul-Gen-| eral in Shanghai had reported that he had received information to the effect that little headway had been made with proposed formation of the Yangtse River Steamship Com- pany, and it appeared doubtful whe- thef the new company had yet ac quired any tonnage. -
In other respects the situation in regard to navigation on the Yangtse remained unchanged."
· Renewed representations had been made to the Japanese Government
in-
in
terests of all powers trading there, but the matter would be borne mind. Reuter.
A large number of unemployed men staged a demonstration out- side the Houses of Parliament in London. They attempted another "sit-down strike”, but wore prevented by police who arrested a num- ber of them. Photo shows one of the demonstrators getting a rough handling, from the police as he la marched away,
CONFLICTING ANTARCTIC CLAIMS
Hobart, To-day.
Conflicting claims have arisen over the Antarctic territories since Lincoln Ellsworth's return, claiming 430,000 square miles on behalf of the United States.
Ellsworth explains that the dis- pute is due to different principles whereon such claims may be based.
Lincoln Ellsworth` declared that Douglas Mawson, who claimed the whole of Princess Elizabethland for Britain, was using the so- called sector principle of the geo- graphical societies.
Ellsworth himself, however, had adopted the Government's prin- ciple of claims made on the basis of land
een by the explorer.
If the claims overlapped, he said he would claim an area of 150 miles radius from Meridian 68.
Lincoln Ellsworth sailed for
origa yesterday. Router.