PENANG WITHDRAWAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 December 1941, Page 3

PENANG WITHDRAWAL

DISCUSSION IN SINGAPORE GOVERNOR & COMMUNITY LEADERS. SOME ASSURANCES GIVEN. (Received This Day, 9.0 a.m.) SINGAPORE, December 23. Henceforth, if it becomes necessary to yield any district in Malaya to Japan, European Government officers will remain with the native peoples and look after their needs as far as possible, even if the territory is in enemy hands. The action of the military authorities in evacuating Europeans from Penang has called forth comment in Singapore. The Governor (Sir T. Shen ton Thomas) met leading members of the Indian, Chinese and Malay communities and said he had discussed the evacuation of Penang with Major-Geneial Percival and had accepted his assurance that the withdrawal of the military garrison was essential from a military viewpoint. Eurasian, Malay and Chinese companies of volunteers, offered the choice of being evacuated, elected to remain with their wives and families. They were instructed not to resist the Japanese, but to assist in policing the town. The Governor also gave an assurance that in the event of any evacuation of people from any area, there would be no disci imination of race, colour or creed. The Colonial Secretary stressed the fact that ordinary labour required for essential services in Penang had failed, though volunteers for the passive defences played their part nobly. He pointed out that one of the most horrible features of the failure of ordinary services was that the bodies of those killed in the first day’s raids were still unburied. ' ATTACKS ON SHIPPING AMERICAN NAVY REPORT. (Received This Day, 9.40 a.m.) RUGBY, December 23. An American naval communique states: “In the Eastern Pacific a United States freighter was attacked by an unknown submarine, off the coast of California, on the night of December 20. The attack was made at close range and consisted of gunfire, followed by the discharge of a torpedo. All the shots missed their mark and the torpedo exploded in th ship’s vicinity. There were no casualties or damage. In the Central Pacific, thirty survivors from the S.S. Lahaina, which was shelled and sunk by an enemy submarine on December 11, while en route to San Francisco, were landed. Two of the crew were killed and two are missing. There has been no enemy activity in the vicinity of Midway Island.