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presidency of the South Manchuria Railway is often rumoured in the Japanese press; Mr. Sato and Mr. Arita, diplomatic advisers to General Ugaki, who resigned with him. It appears, however, that the only candidate to whom the post was actually offered was the late ambassador to Washington, Mr. Hiroshi Saito, and he refused on the grounds of ill-health. It was not until the 29th October that a Foreign Minister was found in Mr. Hachiro Arita, who held the same office in the Hirota Cabinet.
250. Mr. Renzo Sawada, recently diplomatic adviser to the North China puppet régime, was appointed vice-minister, to succeed Mr. Horinouchi.
251. Other diplomatic moves included the transfer of Mr. Togo from Berlin to Moscow and the appointment of the military attaché in Berlin, Lieutenant- General Oshima, to be ambassador, the precedent having been set in Tokyo this summer by the promotion of General Ott to be German Ambassador.
League of Nations.
252. The Privy Council has been discussing the precise method and terms of Japan's proposed withdrawal from the International Labour Office and the other League of Nations technical and cultural agencies, which would sever once and for all her connexion with the League. Official notice will be served in Geneva early in November.
253. It is understood that Japan will continue to submit an annual report to the League on the administration of the Pacific Islands mandate.
China
254. The month has been a decisive one as regards China. On the 12th October a landing was made at Bias Bay in South China. Although an obvious and long-awaited move from the military point of view, its actual execution came as a surprise. Shortly afterwards the Canton-Kowloon Railway was cut and Chiang Kai-shek was thus deprived of his main line of supply. Only nine days later Canton was occupied without a struggle, the assumption here being that the Chinese had been bought up. Although so close to Hong Kong, it was evident that the Japanese, having profited from their experiences at Shanghai and Nanking, were most anxious to avoid complications with foreign Powers, and no incidents occurred.
255. Hankow fell at last on the 26th October, and two days later there began in Tokyo and elsewhere a whole week of celebrations, which were characterised by mammoth flag and lantern parades, the largest, it was said, since the capture of Mukden in the Russo-Japanese war.
256. In the midst, however, of this jubilation could be heard the warning voices of the governor of the Bank of Japan telling the people that they must not expect quick profits from the China expedition, and of the War Minister, who said: The fall of the Wuhan cities does not indicate a change in the armed conflict. Nor does it mean a termination of the present hostilities. The conflict has just begun.'
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257. Ön the crest of a wave of pride and triumph it was said that Japan would now press on to Chungking and occupy the whole of the Canton-Hankow Railway.
Japanese Enterprise in China.
258. Since the fall of Canton there is talk of forming a South China Development Company. Now that it is possible the conflict in China may cease to be a predominantly military one, such semi-Government organisations will play an increasingly important and prominent part, and it will be interesting to see whether they are successful in attracting foreign capital.
259. Iron from the mines near Nanking is expected to arrive in November. The Central China Iron and Steel Company, a branch of the Japan Iron Manufacturing Company, hopes to move half a million tons of ore annually.
260. The month of October saw a speeding up in the communications between Japan and China. On the 1st October aerial passenger services were inaugurated from Tokyo to Shanghai and Peiping, although the planes are still reserved almost entirely for army officers and Government officials. On the 15th October through freight traffic began between Tokyo and Peiping (via Fusan, Korea and Antung) and a through passenger service will doubtless follow soon.
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261. On the 19th October the telephone service between Tokyo and Shanghai, which had been cut since the beginning of the war, resumed operation.
Sandpiper Incident.
262. On the 24th October at Changsha six Japanese bombers dropped a large number of bombs round a British gunboat, H.M.S. Sandpiper, doing a considerable amount of damage to the superstructure, but fortunately involving no loss of life. Negotiations are now in progress to settle the affair, but it would appear that by good fortune alone another Panay incident has been avoided. It received scant mention in the Japanese press.
Anglo-Japanese Relations.
263. The tone of the press during October has been moderately restrained. His Majesty's Ambassador had an interview with Prince Koñoye on the 11th October, and with the new Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Renzo Sawada, on the 28th October. This last meeting, although of a routine nature, received much unfavourable publicity. It was said that the Anglo-Japanese conversations. formerly held between His Majesty's Ambassador and General Ugaki, were to be resumed that the moment for such a resumption was exceedingly unfavourable, unless Great Britain "revised her view of the situation in the Far East" (now a common refrain), and that it would be far better for any negotiations to be carried on in London between the new Japanese Ambassador and the Secretary of State.
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264. Mr. Shigemitsu, on his arrival in London, made a statement to the press asserting the need for friendship and his desire to put our relations on to a better footing.
France.
265.
France has been consistently associated with Great Britain in attacks on nations which fail to comprehend Japan's mission in the Far East and the changed situation resulting from the successful prosecution of that mission.
266. With the cutting of the Canton-Hankow Railway the French railway from Haiphong to Yunnanfu is now China's main line of supply, and the Japanese maintain that, despite French assurances to the contrary, large quantities of munitions are passing up the railway. On the 29th October the Japanese filed a protest in Paris, saying, according to the press. that they might have to act if the traffic was not halted." The threatening terms of the protest are to be explained by the feeling of confidence resulting from the capture of Canton and Hankow.
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267. Again, in early October, the Government-General of French Indo- China passed a resolution to be brought into force in the near future. prohibiting The Foreign Office the export of iron and manganese ore from Indo-China. spokesman admitted that France had a perfect right to impose the ban, but said that, as Japan was easily the chief buyer of these minerals, this action on France's part could only be taken as an unfriendly gesture towards Japan.
United States of America.
268. On the 6th October the United States Ambassador handed an official note to the Prime Minister, then temporarily Minister for Foreign Affairs, pro- testing very strongly against the various proceedings of the Japanese Government in Manchuria and North and Central China, which took the form of discrimina- tion against American interests. Details of the note were made public in Japan on the 29th October.
269. The United States Secretary of State, Mr. Cordell Hull. informed the press on the 24th October that the United States had not been approached by China or Japan with a request for mediation, and that it was not the policy of the United States Government to extend its offices for mediating in any controversy unless asked.
270. On the 25th October Mr. Tamon Maeda of the Society for International Cultural Relations accompanied by two assistants, arrived in New York to take charge of the new Japan Institute which is nearing completion.
271. The Hitler Youth have been completely outdone in publicity, and the United States have been put on the map, by the arrival in Japan of a team of American lady soft-ball players. As the ladies' ages varied from 14 to 26. the
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