Escorted by the British gunboat, HMS. Scarab, the first two British merchant vessels to sail to Hankow since the commencement of the China hostilities, left Shanghai at noon on Sunday carrying several naval. details. for the relief of -half-crews of British gunboats at Hankow, several civilian passengers and foodstuffs and other articles unobtainable in; Hankow.
The two ships, the Jardine Matheson; s. Suiwo, and the Butterfield: & Swire, s. Wuhu, sailed under an agreement made with the Japanese naval. authorities, the vessels being used as freighters in which accommodation and space was engaged by the Government although the ships were not exclusively at the disposal of the Government.
Upon arrival at Hankow the s. Wuhu will remain there to relieve the s. Wuling which has been unable to leave the river port for several months. Both the Wuling and the Suiwo will make the downriver trip together and are expected in Shanghai on or about June 3 or 4.
At the Japanese press conference yesterday, the spokesman said that the permission given by the Japanese authorities that two merchant vessels be used as military transports by the British authorities, is an exception and that no such permission would be given in future. In referring to the civilians being permitted to travel on the two ships, the spokesman said that as several berths were vacant, the Japanese did not object to a few civilian passengers and drew the attention of the correspondents to the fact that since the beginning of the year, civilians with good reasons for travelling to Hankow have always been accommodated on Japanese military transports
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.