The fall of Kiukiang has been expected for ome days, and the news that it has been captured will come as no surprise to any who have watched developments during the past few weeks. Its occupation is a necessary preliminary to the further advance upon Hankow, and, while from this point of view t must be regarded as another Japanese success, its significance should not, for that reason, be over-emphasized. What has always to be borne in mind is the principles of the scheme upon which Chiang Kai-shek determined to resist Japanese aggression, At no time has he or his advisers ever contemplated the securing of victories in the field f such magnitude as to force the Japanese to leave China. He would have been grossly mistaken had he ever believed such were were far too well ed in all the potentialities of war in China to have been rash enough to have encouraged such a belief, There is at present no information available to indicate exactly the price which the Japanese have paid for this latest success, and there is no reason to believe that it was costly, for despite indications that the Chinese were preparing to offer a very determined resistance at this spot, the fall of Kiukiang in so comparatively short a while suggests that the price in casualties was probably not so heavy as that paid on other fields. The important fact from the point of view of the Chinese is that they have again Strange Admission Mr. Neville Chamberlain's reply to questions in the House of Commons regarding the Anglo-Italian accord is little short of amazing, and may arouse serious repercussions. The "settlement in Spain" attached as a condition for the bringing into operation of the agreement has apparently never received an agreed definition, though there has been a confidential exchange of views on the subject between the two governments, Whether rightly or wrongly the British public was led to believe that the withdrawal of Italian volunteers from Spain was the prerequisite to the accord being implemented, but it now apps thatthe Prime Minister has never committed himself either to a complete or partial definition of the phrase, and the general public is left very considerably in the dark, Uneasiness will undoubtedly be created by the Prime Minister's contention that the Govern: ment was entitled to interpret the condition which it had imposed. This in turn gave rise to a question as to whether the House would be consulted in the matter of in-te retation, His reply recalling one of a few s previously to the effect that he did nat exclude the possibility that the House of Commons might be called together to consider the matter, will not allay anxiety, though it is believed that he would not now modify his stand with regard to British requirements in the matter without consulting the House. Were he to do so a situation dangerous to the continued existence in power of the Government would be created, for nothing would be calculated to arouse the House in its present temper than to be faced with un fait accompli in this matter, On such an issue as might then be raised the Government might be forced to go to the country, when it is possible that opponents of the accord might be able to. stir up sufficient indignation to bring about the government's downfall, It is to be hoped that the Prime Minister is much too wily to permit himself to commit any such grave error of judgment.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.