"What is the purpose of these searches?"
"To find arms and documents and such other matter which may be used to the detriment of peace and order in China, Has anything been found?"
"We do not receive reports on the subject here."
Asked to amplify on the matter of British subjects being searched whilst other nationals were allowed to pass the sentries unmolested the spokesman said that s long as the British were showing a definite anti-Japanese attitude and openly assisted the Chiang Kai-shek regime, this was only natural.
"A few days ago, we were told here, that all foreigners in China were being treated alike. Is the present statement from which we are led to believe that discrimination is being shown against British subjects, not directly contradictory therewith?" queried a correspondent.
"When this subject was brought up on a previous occasion, Tientsin was not being discusses "Are Britishers in other parts of China not just as likely to aid the Chiang Kai-shek regime, as they are in Tientsin?"
"We have not worked the percentages out yet."
Whilst the spokesman termed all dispatches concerning strippings of Britishers malicious, he did not deny that they had actually occurred.
Sir Robert Craigie, the British Ambassador in Tokyo, had made similar representations to Mr. Hachiro Arita, the Japanese Foreign Minister, with whom he was discussing the present situation in all its aspects.
"I have some reason to hope," the Prime Minister declared, "that this discussion may lead to a settlement of the Tientsin affair,"
Mr, Arthur Henderson, the Labour leader, asked whether the Premier's hopes that the incident might be settled also covered the wider demands by Japanese spokesmen; and whether the Japanese Government had formulated these wider demands.
Mr. Chamberlain:—No, the Japanese Government has not.
Mr. Anthony Eden, former Foreign Secretary, asked whether the better hopes of which Mr. Chamberlain spoke arose solely from contacts with Tokyo; and whether there was any sort of improvement in the local situation, Promises not Always Kept Would the Prime Minister bear in mind are not always fulfilled as Tokyo are not always fulfilled as might be hoped?"
Mr. Chamberlain: I am quite aware of that, and the hopes I have expressed refer to conversations with the Tokyo Government. I hope they may be able to restrain their subordinates in Tientsin.
Sir John Wardlaw Milne, Conservative member for the Kidderminster division of Worcestershire, asked whether there was not the "gravest danger" that the Prime Minister's patient and conciliatory policy might be just as much misunderstood in the Far East as it was in Germany, Sir John also asked whether, in an effort to avoid a conflict which might lead to war in the Far East, it would not be worth while to threaten definite economic reprisals.
The Prime Minister, in reply, said he had all these considerations in mind, and hoped Sir John would exercise what patience he could "in the circumstances to which we are being subjected."
In the earlier part of his statement on Tientsin, the Prime Minister declared that the food situation was unchanged, The arrival of perishable Kood-stuffs continued to be spasmodic, and amounted only to between 10 and 20 per cent. ofthe normal figure.
Tugs and lighters were being searched and delayed. The local municipal and military gutharities were constantly reviewing the question of food supplies, and were authorized to take appropriate measures. Very few Britons were using the barriers, but he regretted to say that further indignities had been inflicted upon them.—Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.