have been more or less disarmed; they are given no ammunition except when on active service: when in barracks their rifles are kept under lock and key by Japanese non-commissioned officers; and exact and detailed lists of the men's families have been drawn up. About thirty thousand of these Manehuokuo troops have been sent out of the country to garrison the towns and lines communication in East Hopeh, Charhar and Suiyuan. The former boast of the Japanese that before long, in a Russian-Japanese war, Manchuokuo armies would be found ghting shoulder to shoulder with their Japanese brothers remains an idle dream. Nor do the realists of the Japanese General Staff count on them in any such emergency.
The strength of the Japanese forces in Manchuokuo remains a. subject of much speculation. The nearest approach to any estimate, by military experts, lies anywhere between three and four hundred thousand for Manchoukuo and Korea together. They are grouped in three big concentrations towards the Siberian frontier on each of the three railways that radiate west, north and east from Harbin, with a strong reserve in Korea, The Russians, it is known, have been concentrating oven larger forces, with large numbers of planes and tanks, along thei frontier. In the summer and autumn travel-Jers returning via Siberia reported having seen train after train running east with troops and material, though in recent weel: s this movement appears to have fallen off. The Russian attitude remains as much of a mystery as ever. Not even in Harbin, where, as always, there is the usual talk of' an imminent war between Japan and Russia, do they seem to know anything of the larier's plans or real intentions. The place is full of rumours of daily bickerings on the frontier which da not appear in the Press. These though not important in themselves might, it is feared, one day toad to a major conflict. Wig no secret that the junior officers of the Kuantung Army are saying quite openly that now is the right time to settle accounts with Russia, as she is completely disorganized and 5 Germany would assist Japan by launching an attack against her in the West. This view, no doubt, is not hold in responsible quarters in Tokyo, but then unfortunately, "as has already been shown in China, the control of the Tokyo government over its military commanders operating on the mainland is by no means effective, And if any of them though Int to start trouble on his own account, the government would be foreed to support him in the end.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.