Sir Alfred Knox, Conservative member for the Wycombe division of Buckinghamshire, asked first if Mr. Eden was aware that in the recent operations in the neighbourhood of Shanghai the Japanese had done their best to spare the foreign business and residential areas in the International Settlement, and second if he would approach the Japanese Government with a view to obtaining security for Chinese refugees to return to their normal occupations.
It was premature at the present stage, the Foreign Secretary replied, to attempt a final judgment on the point raised in the first part of the question.
Regarding the second, Mr. Eden declared, it was not clear whether any initiative on the part of the British Government was called for.
The matter, he said, was chiefly one for the Municipal authorities*of the International Settlement. He feared that probably, to a large extent, it was still physically impossible for refugees to return to their normal occupation.
It-Cmdr. L. R. Fletcher, Labour Member for the Nuneator division of Warwickshire, asked whether any information had been received from the Japanese Government that they intended to take over in the International Settlement and French Concession all those Governmental functions hitherto exercised by the Chinese Government.
Mr. Eden asked for notice of the question—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.