Mr. Butler said there were particular circumstances in the present case—the Japanese demand for the four alleged murderers of Mr. Cheng Shi-kang, Manager of the Federal Reserve Bank and the newly-appointed Superintendent of Customs—and he was quite sure that every possibility would be considered.
Mr. F. J. Bellenger, Labour member for the Bassetlaw division of Notts, said he and the House would welcome a satisfactory statement that the British Government would not to-lorate what the Japanese had stated they would do, namely, blockade the British Concession in Tientsin.
Mr. Butler thought that Mr. Bel-longer had better refer to the last sentence of his earlier statement, On April 9, declared the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in recounting the events which led to the present serious situation in Tientsin, Mr. Cheng Shi-kang was assassinated in the British Concession.
This was the first case of violence which had occurred in the Concession since the outbreak of hostilities. The assassin, a Chinese, escaped.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.