Tokyo, Feb. 22.
"It the present situation in Shanghai continues it will be inevitable for Japan to take effective action in self-defence," the War Minister, Lieut.-Gen. Seishiro Itagaki, declared yesterday during a debate in the House of tatives on terment and French Concession.
"The International Settlement of Shanghai cannot be regarded as a battlefield simely because of the frequent outbreaks of terrorism there.
"Authorities of the Internationa' Settlement and French Concession have ready explanations to reply tr Japanese protests, but they have failed to maintain peace and order.
This appears to be due to their lack of sincerity rather then inability to do so, We cannot rely on the police power of the authorities of the International Settlement and French Concession unless the security of Janenese and Chinese lives there is guaranteed."
The Foreign Minister, Mr. Hachiro Arita, said thet Japanese authorities early in January suspected that a plot had been hatched for a systematie disturbance of peace and order in the Settlement end Concession. On February 10 the Japanese authorities requested the authorities of the Settlement and Concession to control lawless gangs, he said.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.