No. 216(14/130/41)
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AIDE MEMO IRE
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Mr. Walter Smith, a British subject resident
in Harbin disappeared on the 1st November and it became
known on the 3rd Nove ber that he had been arrested by
the Manchurian authorities, ostensibly in connexion with
a fire which occurred on the 5th October, destroying
the premises of Messrs Liddell and Company,
Company, a British
fira in Harbin, by whom he is employed. A British
Indian watchman named Mit Singh, who had also been
employed by this firm, was arrested in the same connexion
on October 29th. The efforts of His Majesty's Consul-
General in Harbin to obtain the release of these British
subjects through negotiation with Mr. Oishi, the Foreign
Affairs Delegate in Harbin, have so far proved abortive.
2. In the course of these negotiations Mr. Oishi
concluded a memorandun aääressed to His Majesty's Consul-
General, in reply to a request from the latter that he
might be permitted to see Mr. Smith, in the following
terms:- "It is our view that your request does not yet
come within the bounds of consideration, and that in
future also, such courteous and friendly treatment should
not be accorded to your country in the absence of any
formal relations with our country". The use of such
language in a case of this nature, where the welfare of
British subjects is involved, is particularly regrettable.
3. It is accordingly requested that the Imperial
Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be good enough to
exert all their influence to obtain the immediate release of
Mr. Smith and of Mit Singh, neither of whom have been made
the object of any charges whatsoever.
British Embassy, Tokyo.
17th November, 1941.
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