Havoc caused in the Japanese Concession of Hankow in the wake[ of the Chinese retreat resulted in the, destruction of 75 per cent. of the total value of Japanese property in the Yangtze port, Col. Hitoshi Hamada, director of the Press Bureau of the Japanese Expeditionary Foret to Central China, told the Shanghai "Nippo" on his return here on Saturday.
According to a survey by the Japanese Consulate-General in Hankow, 45 per cent. of all Japanese owned structures in Hankow were dynamited, Col. Hamada was reported to have said, All valuable property was demolished, leaving intact only small houses.
Third-party nationals, Col. Hamada was said to have continued, reaped huge profits in a get-rich-quick" scheme under, which they entered into contracts with Chinese property owners for the hurried registration of various valuable buildings, which then were marked with foreign insignia so as to prevent the Japanese forces from using them as billets. High fees were exacted from the Chinese by the foreigners who assumed nominal ownership of such properties.
Foreigners in Hankow, Col. Hamada was quoted as saying, gave high praise to the rigid discipline of the Japanese forces which carried out the occupation of the city. Conditions in Hankow, the Japanese officer added, were fast being restored to normal. Chinese street vendors, he was quoted as saying, were already plying their trade on the pavements outside the Japanese Army Press Bureau.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.