After a two-hour secret session of the House Committee recently to enable the War Minister, Gen Sugiyama, to explain the relation between ihe Bill and national mobiliza! the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Koki Hirota, speaking for the Premier, Prince Konoye, explained the necessity for the Government's policy in the following terms:
"The present bill seeks to lay a foundation for the rapid and prompt measures necessary for cuting a warfare of national strengths, ch: acteristic of modern war. As the general outlines of the powers which the Government will have to wield in the event of a war of this kind can be predicted on the whole, they are to be decided beforehand with the approval of the Diet, leaving necessary emergency measures to be taken in accordance with developments of the war from moment to moment within the scope of the law enacted by the Di "The nation has had little experience with national general mobilization, and Japan's lack of abundance of natural resources also makes it imperative that legislation of this kind be undertaken.
"Future developments may make it necessary for us to exercise stricter state contròl over the nation. There-Tore we have submitted the general tiobilization bill as a matter of the utmost urgency.
"The bill contains provisions that are applicable also in peace-time, but these are required to prepare the nation in peacetime for a possible war situation'and are naturally nec-assary in wartime also."—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.