SHIPS AT DAVAO

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 April 1938, Page 7

SHIPS AT DAVAO

PLANES AND DESTROYERS TO INVESTIGATE EARLIER REPORT RIDICULED. PROBABLY FISHING CRAFT SEEKING SHELTER. MANILA, April 14. Two United States destroyers with bombers and three Philippine army planes have been ordered to Davao to investigate the mystery ships which have been reported. The United States fleet headquarters, however, ridicules the idea that they would be Japanese warcraft. The general opinion is that the vessels are fishing craft which have run into the Gulf of Davao to escape stormy weather. The latest radio reports state that 20 ships moved their anchorage to a point 60 nautical miles from Davao city in the mouth of the gulf. The United States High Commissioner, Mr P. V. McNutt, who is receiving full reports, states that no nation has requested diplomatic permission to visit Philippine waters. Unofficial speculation mentioned the possibility of a gesture in answer to the recently-reported visit of an American cruiser to one of the Japanese mandated islands in the midPacific during manoeuvres. SUGGESTED TEST. ANXIETY AND SPECULATION IN WASHINGTON. WASHINGTON, April 14. The United Press correspondent makes the suggestion that the mysteryships may be Americans manoeuvring secretly to test the vulnerability of the Philippine Islands. Members of the War Board are reported to be perturbed, inasmuch as the mere presence of a mystery fleet, even if it is American, emphasises the against a surprise attack. Whether complete indefensibility of the islands they are American or foreign, they' operated so secretly that they- slipped inside Admiral Yarnell's sphere of defence without detection. It is suggested that this might be a strategem devised by the War Board to dramatise the islands' vulnerability.

Speedy investigation is hampered by the fact that the Filipino Government has no Customs cutters in the area.