JAPANESE THREAT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 June 1939, Page 5

JAPANESE THREAT

BLOCKADE OF BRITISH AREA AT TIENTSIN RELATIONS BECOMING WORSE. FOREIGN OFFICE WATCHING POSITION. By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright LONDON. June 10. The Japanese, it is reported, will blockade the British concession in Tientsin on June 14 unless the murderers of C'heg Shi-kang, branch manager of the Federal Reserve Bank, who is alleged to have been killed in the British concession on April !). are surrendered.

Chinese merchants are moving their goods out of the British and French concessions. The reason for this, says the Domei News Agency, is that the Japanese intend to “cut off the British concession from the outside world.' Relations betweep the British and Japanese are steadily becoming worse. The Japanese have advised their nationals to leave the concession. The Tientsin branch of the Yokohama Specie Bank is breaking off relations with foreign banks on Monday. The Foreign Office in London is watching the position very closely. The Japanese announce that the French concession in Tientsin must also be isolated, otherwise it wifi be impossible to blockade the adjoining British area.

As a result of this first definite indication that Japan is serious, many Britons are preparing to evacuate th'e concession, fearing they will be trapped by the blockade. A Russian emigrants’ organisation, claiming it was Russian property, occupied the former Soviet Consulate-General in the Jap-anese-controlled area and tore down the Japanese flag. The Japanese-sponsored Chinese municipality in Tientsin has ordered those of its employees who are living in the English and French concessions to ’evacuate immediately. STRONG PROTEST DEATH OF MR R. M. TINKLER. SHANGHAI, June 10. Britain has lodged a strong protest against Mr R. M. Tinkler’s death, complaining against the unjustifiable use of bayonets after Mr Tinkler had been overpowered, the failure of the Japanese to provide early medical attention, which might have saved his life, and the refusal of the Japanese to allow the British Consul to see Mr Tinkler. LIEUT. COOPER RELEASED. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, June 10. It is stated in London that Lieutenant Cooper, who was arrested by the Japanese at the same time as the British Military Attache, Lieut.-Colonel Spear, in Kalgan, on May 26, has been released and will reach Peking this afternoon. ARRIVAL IN PEKING. (Received This Day, 9.30 a.m.) PEKING, June 11. Accompanied by a Japanese soldier, Lieutenant Cooper arrived from Kalgan and went immediately to the British Embassy.