Foreign vessels now above Hukow were requested to proceed beyond Hankow, "as the hostilities spread to that direction", ft. Tan's " communication em= phasized that the requests were based on the wishes of the Japanese naval authorities to preclude any possibility fof causing damage to the vessels of Third Powers in the course of naval operations.
Such instances, the eller said, might bring about untoward incidents between Japan and Third Powers which the Japanese authorl-Hes are anxious to avoid, Mr. Tan's letter read in part:
While the Japanese naval authorities believe that there are neither men of war nor other vessels of third Powers within the area from Wuhu to Hukow on the Yangtze River, they earnestly hope that in view of the possibility that the area in question Will become a field of hot fighting fon and afler June 11, none of suen vessels will enter the area so Jona, fas the commander-in-chief of tha Tapanese Fleet in China seas will find ie strategically inconvenient for them enter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.