London, Feb. 20.
China figured prominently in discussions in the House of Commors today, The rapid expansion of the ncrcetics trade in the Japanese-occupied area in Shanghai and other places m North China where the Japanese were in control was the subject of many questions.
Mr. R. A "Butler, Under-Secretory of State for Foreign Affairs, said that reports received did not indicate a substantial modification of the position described on December 22. He was not, however, without hope that the Japanese authorities were now aware of the dangers attendant upon the increase of the drug traffic and may now be devising measures to meet them.
When asked whether enquiries had been completed relating to the Shonghai Inland Navigation Steamship Company, Mr. Butler said that Sir Herbert Phillips, the British Consul-General in Shanghai, had reported that the company was continuing to function but had met with a number of difficulties. It was being reorganized, he said, as a subsidiary of one of the holding companies promoted by the Japanese Government.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.