BURMA ROAD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 August 1940, Page 5

BURMA ROAD

QUESTIONS IN HOUSE OF COMMONS. NO INSPECTION RIGHTS GRANTED TO JAPAN. LONDON, July 31. The Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mr Butler, was asked in the House of Commons this afternoon what rights had been granted to Japan to inspect traffic on the Burma Road, and how many persons were included in the Japanese diplomatic and consular staffs in Burma. Mr Butler said that the recent Anglo-Japanese agreement did not give the Japanese authorities any right of inspection. There is no diplomatic staff in Burma, and the only Japanese consulate, at Rangoon had a staff of the Consul, two Japanese counsellors, two Japanese clerks, and one Burman and one Indian. There had been no increase recently, and the Government had no information of any intended increase. In reply to a further question, Mr Butler said he understood that certain information would be issued about traffic on the road. It may be recalled that the Japanese have set up an inspectorate in French Indo-China to see that no arms reach China by that route. ARRESTED BRITONS FOUR RELEASED & TEN STILL HELD. LONDON, July 31. It is learned in London that four of those arrested in Japan are now reported to have been released. There are at present 10 British subjects in custody in Japan. The Domei news agency stated that Mr Reiman Morin, chief of the Tokio office of the Associated Press of Great Britain, was questioned regarding dispatches reporting the death of Mr Cox and accused of intimating that it was not a case of suicide. He was released after several hours. ' Many of the British subjects who have been arrested have been devoting years of their life to improving relations between Japan and this country, stated a London commentator. The only charge under which they could have possibly laid themselves open is that they succeeded too well in their goodwill mission to suit the tastes of anti-British extremists. The arrests have obviously a political significance. It is also pointed out here that members of the Japan Society in London are not treated with suspicion, nor is the organisation banned as a hotbed of espionage. TWO OTHERS RELEASED. LONDON, August 1. It is authoritatively stated that Japan has now released a total of six Britons, having seven still under arrest.