As foreshadowed, Lieutenant-General Seishiro Hakagi has been appointed Japanese Minister of War in succession to General Gen Sugiyama and Japan's new policy aiming at a speedy end of the Sino-Japanese hostilities and the "quickest possible overthrow of the Chiang Kai-shek regime" is given additional impetus. With Hsuchowfu -constituting what the Japanese military consider à new turn in the campaign and the recent cabinet changes which have strengthened the military party's hands in te conduct of China operations, it is to be expected that the drive for Hankow will be intensified and subsidiary operations will be launched to assist in the main plan of campaign. Gen. Itagaki is one of the youngest men evento hold tue War Minister's portfolio in Japan. But he is a man of outstanding ability and. brings to His office the experience not only of first-hand knowledge of conditions in China, where Te commanded a division in the Hsuchowfu district, but also administrative experience gained as Vice Chief-of-Staff of the Kwantung Army. Favouring vigorous action in China, he puts himself in line with the.other Ministers appointed to Prince Konoye's Cabinet which has been reconstituted with ti precise object in mim. The financial side of the re-organization has been placed in capable hands and the strength of the new effort will be gauged in the next few weeks for the amazing qualities of persistency and-endurance which the Chinese forces have shown are not likely to fail before anything less than an overwhelming blow from the Japanese,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.