Tokyo, Feb. 8.
During a discussion yesterday before the Budget Committee of the Japanese Parliament concerning the financial aspect of the Sino-Japanese conflict, a Foreign Ministry official, answering a question put by a member concerning the financial resources of the Chinese Central Government, said that the Chinese war chest at the, end of January amounted to about 600,000,000 Chinese dollars.
This sum, according to the view of Japanese economic experts, would enable the Chinese Central Government to continue to import war material at the present rate for about another year.
The basis of the Chinese war chest, added the official of the Foreign Ministry, had been formed in November, 1986, with silver set free when China changed from silver to paper currency. About 830,000,000 Chinese dollars were at that time deposited in London and New York. The collection of metal at the time of the outbreak of the hostilities had brought together about another 380,000,000 Chinese dollars, so that when the Sino-Japanese conflict began the Chinese Central Government had about $1,200,000,000 at its disposal for financing the war.
Of this sum the deliveries of war material up till now had averaged {monthly from August to January $50,000,000, making a total outlay of $300,000,000, while a further $300,000,- 000 had been used to maintain the debt service—Trans-Ocean,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.