Secretariat of the Japanese Overseas Ministry, who the Japanese expect will be appointed Special Deputy Commissioner of the Shanghai Municipal Police, when the Municipal Council agree to stich an appointment, has been giving interviews to the Press. In one he is alleged to have stated that he would be inspired by the desire to do his duty, in connection with the proposed new appointment. The "Asahi Shimbun" is now reporting him as having said that he was convinced that the Japanese language will and must become the official language of the Shanghai Municipal Police Service. It is to be hoped for the sake of Mr. Akagi that he has been misreported, for a more blazing indiscretion could hardly be made by an expectant Official It must be emphasized again that, if and when Japanese are appointed to the Municipal police, their duty will be to the international body which appoints them, and the suggested japonification of the police is certainly not any part of that. While the community as a whole will be prepared to concede some of the Japanese demands, so long as they are reasonably within the principle of internationality, there would whdoubtedly be very strenuous opposition not only locally but by the other Powers interested in Shanghai to any such development as Mr. Akagi is quoted as foreseeing. Japanese has a long way to go before it will ever be able to play the part of a lingua franco to the extent that English does, but apart from that this international community does not now, and will not readily acquiesce in any such design as that attributed to Mr. Akagi. That the Japanese should have a fair say in the affairs of this settlement is conceded, but that does not mean that there is any readiness to see it transformed into a Japanese city.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.