VILE ATROCITIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 July 1942, Page 3

VILE ATROCITIES

COMMITTED BV JAPANESE IN SHANGHAI TREATMENT OF BRITISH SUBJECTS. IN HELL-HOLE PRISON. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, July 27. Describing treatment under the Japanese after the declaration of war, a British United Press correspondent, Mr Walter Furnas, cabling from Lourenco Marques, said: “I was 66 days in Shanghai’s hell-hole —the Japanese police headquarters —after trying to escape from Shanghai. I and others were threatened, beaten, starved, and thrown into cells nine feet by 12 with filthy Chinese gunmen and white-slavers and Japanese criminals. “Between 20 and 30 jammed each cell. We were forced to sit crosslegged foi’ hours and were beaten if caught whispering. I and another inmate killed more than 1000 bedbugs one morning. We were allowed one wash daily, and our Chinese cell-mates were not allowed to wash. “J. B. Powell, editor- of the “Chinese Weekly Review.” developed beri-beri and also gangrene of the feet. He is crippled for life; he weighs 751 b. instead of his normal 160, and he has lost all but the heels of his feet as a result of the cold, confinement, inadequate food and lack of medical care. The Japanese summoned an American doctor when they realised that his life was in danger. Powell has steadily made progress aboard the repatriation ship.

PRIMITIVE BARBARISM

OF JAPANESE MILITARY POLICE. ATTEMPT TO EXTERMINATE WHITES. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 10.15 a.m.) NEW YORK, July 27. The former correspondent of the “New York Times,” Mr Otto Tolischus, has arrived at Lourenco Marques. He reports that some Japanese are frankly ashamed of the actions of the Japanese military and police, by which the latter are trying to exterminate the whites in the Far East. He says that the Japanese military police are following traditions reaching back to primitive ages, ranging from a disregard of diplomatic courtesies to the murder, imprisonment and ill-treatment of British and Americans. A hundred thousand war prisoners in Japanese camps urgently need food, clothing and medicines, especially Americans in Japan and British in Hong Kong and Singapore.