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Hokitika Guardian, 25 September 1931, Page 4

By the Treaty of Portsmouth, signed in 1.905, the war between Japan and Russia was brought to an end, and by its terms the two signatory nations agreed to evacuate Manchuria with the exception cf the territory affected by the lease of Liao-tung Peninsula, to which Japan succeeded. Bv the treaty, the exclusive administi ation of Manchuria, excepting the small area mentioned, was unreservedly restored to China. Again in February, 1922, at the Washington Conference, th e Nir.ePowel* Pact to which Japan was a signatory, declared for the integrity of Chinese sovereignity, and the contract, mg Powers agreed to respect “the independence and the territorial and administrative integrity of China.’’ At the same conference a separate treaty between China and Japan was concluded, as a result of mutual concessions, by which was settled the long and bitter disputa over Shantung, showing that it was then found possible to reach an amicable settlement over an even more critical question than Manchuria has ever presented. Japan by her present ; actions has also disregarded another article of the Nine Power Pact, by which it was agreed that if a situation arose involving the application of the terms of the treaty, there should be a full and frank communication between the contracting Powers concerned. This, evidently, has not been done, and any question of the application of the first article dealing with the territorial integrity of China is undoubtedly one that should be cons ide"ed by all the signatories. Japan’s high-handed action in Manchuria appears to have been taken regardless of her treaty obligations.