TRANSLATION
No.150.
Tokyo.
4th October, 1938.
20
Your Excellency,
I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of Your
Excellency's Note No. 140 of the 9th September regarding the
detention of the s.8. "Asian".
I have already explained in my Note No. 79 of the
3rd June last (sic) the reasons for the detention of this
vessel and set out the views of the Japanese side on the
subject of the British demand for indemnification. In a
recent Note Your Excellency gave detailed explanations of the
serious doubts which the Imperial Naval Authorities on the
spot could naturally not fail to entertain as to the transfer
of nationality of the vessel at the time of her detention and
the Japanese side have at length come to understand fully the
true nature of this case. None the less, in spite of Your
Excellency's subsequent explanation of these serious doubts
which formed proper grounds for the detention of the vessel
in question, I do not consider that this explanation is
sufficient to establish the impropriety of the action of the
Japanese authorities who detained her on the strength of an
impartial appraisal of all the circumstances existing in the
vessel at the time of her inspection. I therefore do not
consider, as I have already stated in my Note No. 79 to which
reference is made above, that, in view of the fact that the
detention by our authorities was a reasonable measure in the
situation
His Excellency
The Right Honourable
Sir Robert Craigie, K.C.M.G., C.B.,
His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador
etc., etc., etc.
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