London, Dec. 31.
Mr. Neville Chamberlain, the Prime. Minister, has decided to take personal charge of the Foreign Office when Mr. Anthony Eden, the Foreign Secretary, who returned here from Yorkshire to-day, leaves next week on a holiday to the South of France. according to several newspapers this morning. After his héli-day, Mr. Eden will go to Geneva for the meeting of the Council of the League of Nations on January 17. The Foreign Secretary will thus be absent from London from two to three weeks.
It is not considered certain, however, whether Japan's reply to the British Note on the attacks made on British gunboats and merchantmen in ihe Yangtze, on December 12, will be considered as acceptable.
The British acknowledgement of Japan's reply will not be drafted until after-Mr. Eden's return, There are already indications, however, that it will be cold, though courteous, in tone.
Japan's Note appears to rely on the Japanese military report for its version of the incidents, Sir Robert Craigie, the British Ambassador to Japan, has already objected to the explanation given in this report, particularly the assumption that foreign warships and merchant vessels have no right to be in the vicinity of fighting.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.