1941-07-04 — Page 39

THE CHINA MAIL, JULY 4, 1941.

CHINA MAIL

WINDSOR HOUSE

TOKYO DILEMMA

Yutes

TOKYO

BREAKING FREE

Opportunism remains the keystone of Japan's policy. -She will watch and wait; she will act ac cording to the dictates of what she interprets as her own self-interest, and ac- cording to the prospects of achieving her objective with

the minimum amount of trouble. That is a fair interpretation of the cryptic "statement of policy" which came from Mr. Matsuoka on Wednes- day and there is every probability that Germany will regard this attitude as ill return for the Nazi action in recognising the Nanking puppet regime and instructing Italy, Rumania and Spain to follow suit. Germany hasį already gambled heav- ily in attacking Russia and shutting off contact between Europe and the Eastern end of the Axis. The gesture to Tokyo over Nanking was intend- ed both as recompense and as an inducement to Japan to take parallel action in some form or

with the Dortmund-Ems canal other. In the result, life,

provided link

the, between has merely been made

waterway systems of Eastern and Western Germany. The construc- much more difficult for

tion of the great elevator at Roth- some hundreds of Ger-

ensee, near Magdeburg, means, mans; Nazi influence

that vessels use this canal up to 1,000 tons deadweight, the equi- received always

the valent of 67

15-ton Chungking which

standard Reports of chaotic conditions on tem

greatest attention since the Nazis freight cars. rectly aided Japan in sow-the railways of Germany do not

During

in- assumed power in 1833.

But on the waterways the ing the seeds of discord surprise.

The task of the enemy-control- the first five years of Nazi rule creasing demands upon transport led to a shortage; has been destroyed in one led transport system may be sub- nearly 2,000 miles of Reich motor-facilities have

in- ways were completed at a cost of of barge space, a shortage fell blow; Japan's second divided as follows:

marks (£150,000,- creased by the necessity for re- To supply German and Italian 3,000,000,000

mater. 000). In the same perlod state is worse than her war industries with raw

the placing the invasion barges which and German and Italian number of commercial road vehi-

are repeatedly being bombed by first, for the "peace group" ials

cles in Germany increased by no the R.A.F. at Channel ports. has been robbed of a lean-populations with food;

Fill the gap caused by the loss less than 141 per cent.

Plunder Of Freight On the other hand the German ing-post; the conviction of Italy's imports by sea;

have been

Cars relatively the railways Japan that she

is foodstuffs, oil and other raw neglected. As long ago as the win- thrust entirely upon her materials from south-east Europe ter of 1937-1938 an official report own resources has gained which once reached her via the on the Reich rallways spoke of a impetus.

Supply the needs (not locally Altogether, it

served) of a German army of would seem that Herr

between two and three millions Ribbentrop's much-strung out from the Arctic Circle

to the Pyrenees; and vaunted diplomatic Furnish raw materials for the astuteness, has once industry and agriculture of the again over-reached itself, occupied territories so that

may make their contribution to with the cooperation of the German war effort. Adolf the Pact-Pounder.

in

in indi-

SPRINGBOARDS

has

We

who are like a man jumped off a springboard and has not yet touched the water. He: Isn't wet but he hasn't a chance of get- ting back on the springboard again.

Nazis' Transport

Transport

Miditerranean;

Tangle

tu Germany

they

It is a formidable programme, sufficient to tax the resources of even an efficient transport sys- tem,

To meet the situation the Nazis must rely almost wholly upon and their roads, their railways their inland waterways. The very heavy damage done by the RAF to their seaports has reduced still further the part which sea-going

has

and to

shortage of 100,000 wagons, since then the steady expansion

By Peter Matthews

Four months before the

out-

break of war there was abundant evidence of the strain on the railway system.

12

Moreover, the demand for on the Danube trunsport goods from shipping south-east Europe which_formerly] reached

by Germany

seat has led to the transfer to the Danube of barges which former- ly sailed the Rhine.

The frequent references in Air Ministry communiques to attacks upon the Dortmund-Ems canal and upon the inland ports at Ber of traffic and the difficulty of find-lin and Duisburg-Ruhrort testify by for new ing steel

construction to the great attention paid have intensified the deficiency. the R.A.F. to Germany's inland Moreover, the Austrian railway waterways. system, taken over in the spring With Germany ruling over the of 1938, was even less well pro- greater part of Europe, the Nazi vided with wagons than was that authorities had to choose between. of the Old Reich.

relieving deficiencies in the Reich

wholesale! transport system by plunder and a long-term policy of supporting the occupied territor- ies so that they could continue to a produce foodstuffs, and goods. The Associated Press ships might have been able to In every important station

The Germans decided for the attributes these words to play since the blockade was en- large pink notice told of the can-

of Sweden 'cellation passenger trains, first alternative. Vast numbers forced. Reports from the President of the Cur-state that the damage to dock in-There were complaints of trains of freight cars which set off for German running as much as eight hours Germany loaded with looted: food; tis Publishing Company, stallations in the Notensive that late. One would arrive at a sta- and raw materials have never re- as explaining America's sen-going ships must be unloaded dion to discover that a train which turned Rolling stock cannot be One re- relation to the war. Mr. not at the quays but into lighters, had been recommended by a tra- in two places at once.

vel agency no longer ran: Per- sult has been to leave parts of] which; Fuller objected to other of the three remaining means haps the best indication of the France without the food parts of the interview of transportation the road sys-state of affairs was an official an- would normally arrive by rail. nouncement that 3,500,000,000 This is a point often left out of which had him saying

·marks" (£175,000,000) were: to be account when the question of

with serious delays.

of

Page

sufficient quantity. #MILK_daily__is

necessary for

The

maintenance Of

health & energy de

DAIRY

FARM

MILK

is milk in its most beneficial form

THE ARY

It's Fresh from the Farm. It's still Fresh when you get

Pasteurised. Certified TB Free.

bottle individual-

ESE FACTS MAKE

DAIRY FARM MILK

WHAT IT IS.

THE FINEST & SAFEST IN

Thus the great isola spent during the next four years food for hungry Europe” is-dis- that the "Saturday Even- tionist weekly can say on renevation of rolling stock cussed,

Supplying The Scattered ing Post was changing that it has not changed and track.

Concentration on road building

Armies its policy. But the spring its policy, that it still be at the expense of the railways

Yet even stealing a country's board figure whether his

lieves Americans could for years the Reich railway was or another's-remains the

compelled to assist in financing rolling stock has its limits, for have created in this hem construction of the Autobahnon the Nazis must still maintain com- most graphic and accur- ate description of the sphere "the impregnable was dictated in part by reasons of munications with the outposts of prestigo, in part by the desire to the German armies all along the United States's present asylum of freedom and let absorb labour, and in part by western seaboard of Europe from

tyranny in Europe des concern for the needs of Ger-Narvik to Hendaye,

many's highly mechanised-army. The plundering of the railway situation.

The "Post" does not troy itself," but that to It was bound to have serious con- systems of Denmark, Norway of Holland, Belgium and France will potrol: became a prime considera- be of material assistance to Ger- speak of springboards, day trying to maintain sequences when dconomy

the fiction that this countionsépar

many. But the attacks of the HONG KONG. but it now declarestoc

go back, Isto fácotthe positry is not in the war In such circumstances tha^oM-| R.A‚F, and the denial to Germany, ciency of the German inland by the blockade, of such vital bilty of national-death, Why? Be against Hitler is like run water-way system has become a materials as rubber and lubricat

an earth-mattor of great importanceing oils will steadily intensity the Falstaff nation, so rich and so free, ning from

The completion in 1888 of the transport problem as the months- Mittelland canal, which connectsi go by.

causo it is not probablo that a

would hölo to nurvive" in one"?

quake"

world with littor

: