FAILURE REPORTED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 October 1940, Page 7

FAILURE REPORTED

JAPANESE OFFENSIVE IN EAST CHINA TEN THOUSAND CASUALTIES TRAFFIC ON BURMA ROAD. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright > LONDON. October 25. The Chinese military spokesman at Chungking said that Japan’s autumn offensive in East China had ended in failure. The Japanese suffered 10,000 casualties. The Chungking newspaper “Takung Pao” reports that the first group of trucks safely reached Kunming from the Burma Road on October 22. They made a record trip of three days for a journey of 720 miles, which usually takes five days. Eleven lorries are leaving Rangoon shortly for China. They are of the 10-wheel type with trailers attached. The Japanese are understood to be improving the defences of Tokio • against air attacks. The American navy at Shanghai has announced that it is removing to the United States all dependants of the regular navy and marine personnel by November 15. Two hundred and twenty will embark aboard the Monterey on November 1, and the remainder will leave later by the President Pierce, President Coolidge, and President Taft. TREATY WITH NANKING EXPECTATION OF FORMAL APPROVAL. (Received This Day, 9.0 a.m.) TOKIO, October 25. The Foreign Minister, Mr Y. Matsuoka, explained to Cabinet the progress of Chinese-Japanese negotiations, which are believed to be the forerunner of a formal approval of a treaty with the Wang Ching-wei regime. The Ambassador, General Abe, who has already reached an accord with Mr Wang Ching-wei, is expected at Tokio very shortly from Nanking. AMERICAN AID EXPANSION OF SHIPPING SERVICES. (Received This Day, 9.0 a.m.) RANGOON .October 25. Apparently signalling the speeding up of American aid to China, two American shipping companies are establishing schedules whereby five American ships from New York will call at- Rangoon monthly, via the Cape of Good Hope, thereby escaping possible Japanese interception. It is learned that export Isthmian steamship companies have established schedules to maintain a thirty-five day freight service between New York and Rangoon,* which local Chinese officials described as “an extension of the Burma highway to America.’’ '