9. In view of the numerous. cases, as cited above, of British steamers engaged in activities which the Japanese Authorities cannot consider as peaceful trade; of the misuse of the British flag by the Chinese, and even of the camouflaging of Chinese ships to make them appear as British ships; also of cases of the British flag or British property being taken advantage of by the Chinese for military purposes; the Japanese Naval Authorities requested the British Naval Authorities to give careful consideration to the facts set forth with a view to preventing the recurrence of the abuses in the future, and at the same time, gave notice of their intention to take such measures as might be deemed necessary to cope with the situation.
As regards the investigation of steamers flying the British flag, the Japanese Naval Authorities have, for the same reason, informed the British Author; that there might be instances in which they cannot be satisfied with a mere examination of ihe certificate of nationality alone.
Finally, with regard to the peaceful trade of Third Powers, the Japanese Naval Authorities have set forth the reasons for the necessity of imposing certain restrictions upon such trade so long as actual hostilities continued, and have informed the British Authorities of their inability to tolerate Third Power Trade of a kind calculated to assist Chiang Kai-shek in his war of resistance.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.