"there have been cases where ves sels of this type have been caught in the aet of transporting arms, "he con-Uinued, "The Japanese cannot ignore these practices." Asked ie an indemnity would be paid to the owners fof a vessel if the registration was found to be correct, the spokesman ped and mistakes ha over their detention.
Questioned about the chartering of the vessels, the spokesman stated that the detention of the ships. recalled the case of the steamer Kowshing which was a British vessel chartered to Chinese owners during the Sino-Japanese war in 1894, While trans porting troops under the British flag, he had been sunk by Admiral Toxo ud the sinking had been regarded as egal by the British authorities, he Asked if the same procedure could be carried out today as there hi been no declaration of war as there hud been when the Kowshing was sunk, the spokesman stated that the tircuimstaness surrounding the detention of the vessels had been invest nated by Japanese Tegal experts the seizures were in keeping their findings. Here he. jocular added "In view of recent tendencies carry out military operations without a declaration of war tions become more and more com= plicated,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.