London, June 14.
By the Japanese blockade of the British and French concessions at Tientsin another stroke has been delivered against British trade in the Far East, and another provocation has been added to the long list of anti-British moves by Japanese troops since the war with China was launched, says the "Daily Telegraph" today.
The newspaper, after referring to the death of Mr. R. M. Tinkler and the arrest of Colonel Spear, the British Military Attache, by the Japanese authorities at Kalgan, says that the cumulative effect after an incident such as the interference with the P.
O. liner Ranpura leaves an uneasy impression that the new outbreak of anti-British outrages is being deliberately encouraged.
The unwillingness of the Western Powers to be drawn into the Far Eastern hostilities, it continues, has been made so amply evident' that Japan has exploited to the full the patience that the British Government has exercised.
The recrudescence of incidents, however, it declares, appears to have quite a definite object; it seems that the slow progress of Japan's attempt to subjugate China is becoming too noticeable to both Japanese and Chinese eyes, and it may be thought prudent to seek a re-establishment of "face" at the expense of a third Power.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.