PANIC CHECKED

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 49, 20 November 1937, Page 5

PANIC CHECKED

-PreBS Assn.

Order at Nanking , JAPANESE HALTED Reinforcements Hearten the Chinese Defence BRITISH ARMS POUR IN

(B* Telegrsph-

— Copyrigbt.j

(Received 20 8.45 a.m.) NANKING, Nov. 19. The panic has been checked in Nanking and order re-established, permitting the evacuation to proceed calmly. Scores of fregh regiments have' been thrown iuto tlie lines westward of Shanghai, and their appearance has xallied the demoralised divisions and gtopped Japan's triumphal advance on Nanking. . The Japanese have gained only a ioothold in a corner of Kashing. The CHnese are holding on desperately., fighting han2-to-hand encounters in the atreets. , , , • New barricades have _ erected across the Yangtse, in the vicinity o the Kiin forts, to impede the advance of the Japanese warships. According to a message from Manila, the United Press correspondent says that xeliable private messages declare that British shipments toi arms to China including aircraft, anti-aircraft guns, *rifLes, ammunition, xnedical supplie» and motor trucks, are pouring into Hongkong, choking the warehouses. It is atated that they have been eent by private interests, with the ' ' encouragment" of the British Foreign Office, which. it ia asserted, is anxious to offset'a clear-cut Japanese victory. The" Hongkong correspondent of The Times says that Japanese planes to-day resumed bombings along. the southem xailway but no serious damage was done. The activities are believed to be due to reports that large shipments of trucks and fighting planes had arrived. Frequent reports state that ^ the Japanese Navy is landing additional enpplies preparatory to further occupations. Junk ° owners complain tnat tli© Japanese xob them of fish and money and chop down the masts of their craft and set them adrift. The traming %of Chinese conscripts, the eale of war bonds, and collections for purchasing aeroplanes and munitions have been intensified and give an indication of tEe Chinese intention to continue the fighting, whatever Nanking 's fate may be. A later message from Shanghai says: Traversing the quagmired countryside, ' the Japanese are within five miles of Soochow, where the Chinese counteroffensive fizzled out. Foreign Embassies at Nanking are expected to have evacuated by the week-end. Soviet officials have already gone. The British Consul will remain at the Embassy to supervise the evacuation, for which purpose a British gunboat is standing by. The Japanese Office asserts that arms. to Ghina are be|ng transhipped through Hongkong, including some from Indo-China, reports a Tokio message. They admit that some are prewar contracts. The Japanese claim to have occupied Uhangshu, 50 miles north-west of Shanghai, completing the breach in tbe line between Cbangshu and Fushan.