newspapers (Continued from page 5)
London, Oct, 13.
"The Japanese attack in South China, long expected and long delayed, has now begun," the "Manchester Guardian" stated this morning, commenting on the landing of Japanese troops in the Bias Bay region of the China coast.
"The Munich agreement confirmed to the extremists their belief that the British Empire is not ready and not willing to fight except in extreme necessity," the paper added. The attack on South China is one of the first results of that diplomatic defeat, Whether it will in fact lead to another crisis between Japan and Great Britain is not easy to say. Any attack on the railway running from Kowloon to Canton must bring the Japanese forces close to British territory with the inevitable risk of incidents.
"A more serious point in the long run is that the cutting of the railway, the closing of the Pearl River, and the attack on Canton would put an end to British trade in South China and destroy the economic importance of Hongkong itself," the "Manchester Guardian" concluded.—
Havas.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.