EXCHANGE OF VIEWS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 June 1939, Page 7

EXCHANGE OF VIEWS

PRELUDE TO DISCUSSION IN TOKIO MR CHAMBERLAIN REVIEWS POSITION. MAINTENANCE OF BRITISH RIGHTS. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.30 a.m.) RUGBY, June 29. The Prime Minister, Air Neville Chamberlain, in the House of Commons, announced the opening of negotiations in Tokio for a settlement of the Tientsin situation. He said: “Sir Robert Craigie has been for some time in communication with the Japanese Government on the position and I am now able to announce the result of the exchange of views which has taken place between Britain and Japan. “It has been agreed that conversations shall take place in Tokio in order to effect a settlement of various questions relating to present conditions in Tientsin, and that representatives of the local British and Japanese authorities will be invited to Tokio for the purpose. These conversations, which are expected to start forthwith, will relate to local issues and will be designed to secure that, while the neutrality of its Concession shall be maintained, British authority in the Concession shall be preserved intact. “In view of these conversations,’ Mr Chamberlain said, “Britain assumes that there will be an end of the stripping, searching and similar incidents in Tientsin and Britain has reason to hope that this will in fact be the case.”

Regarding the situation in Tientsin itself, Mr Chamberlain said arrivals of perishable foodstuffs continued to be spasmodic, only a fraction of normal supplies reaching the British Concession. The local British authorities were taking active Steps to remedy the deficiency. All British subjects who had passed the barriers since the commencement of the blockade had been subjected to a rigorous search. The number of instances in which British subjects had been compelled to strip was fifteen, including one woman, but there did not appear to have been any more such cases during the last day or two. Regarding South China, the Japanese authorities had announced military operations for yesterday against the treaty ports of Wenchow and Foochow. A request had been received from the Japanese Consul-General in Shanghai that all third Power vessels, including warships, should leave these ports by noon on Thursday. The British ConsulGeneral in Shanghai had replied pointing out that the right of British vessels to proceed to any port in China remained unaffected. Britain considered that the Japanese were consequently not entitled to exercise undue interference with the movements of British ships, or avoidably to endanger British lives and property. The situation regarding the visits of British merchant shipping to Swatow was still obscure and negotiations continued between the local British and Japanese authorities. JAPANESE REQUEST SHIPS ASKED TO LEAVE MIN RIVER. (Received This Day 9.25 a.m.) TIENTSIN, June 28. The British and Japanese consuls are to fly to Tokio on Friday to participate in negotiations. The Domei News Agency, in Tokio, states that the negotiations will provide ample opportunity for a full exchange of views regarding the fundamental questions lying at the root of the Tientsin situation. Islands opposite Foochow and Wenchow have been occupied. Naval planes dropped leaflets on foreign ships advising them to leave port. Sailors landed at the mouth of the Min River and officers requested two British destroyers and also merchant vessels to withdraw from the river.