British Offer to Tokyo is Revealed in London London, Feb. 4.
Great Britain has offered her good offices to Japan for a joint mediation of European powers, and even-fully the United States, in the Sino-Japanese conflict, well informed sources declare, The suggestion was made to Tokyo by Sir Robert Craigie, British Ambassador, while the various Japanese diplon visiting European capitals were approached by respective governments It is understood that the negotiations originated from the speech of the Japanese Foreign Minister, Mr. Koki Hirota, to the Diet on January 23 when he expressed the desire for an improvement in Anglo-Japanese relations. Well informed circles declared that the contacts, up to the present, were strictly informal and denied the "Yomiuris" sensational announcement of Anglo-American pressure on Tokyo, The British Ambassador merely inquired to what extent the Japanese Government would accept the good offices of the western powers for mediation with the Central Chinese Governmen since the Imperial Conferent decided to sever relations with General Chiang Kai-shek, It is understood that Sir Neville Henderson's return here is also connected with Far Eastern affairs since the German Government anxiously desires a Far Eastern settlement despite the failure of previous German attempts at mediation. Germany, fears that. protracted hostilities would be detrimental to German trade and would strengthen Soviet influences in Central China Havas.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.