A message from London today makes a dis motion between the statements made by Japan-jose spokesmen and the oficial views of the Government. in Tokyo. Unless the former are Incorporated in some government communique, they are not regarded in Whitehall as ropresenting Japan's offelal opinion, They may, of course, he a refection of the opinions of the men on the spot, be: it Tientsin or Shanghai, and so are of a certain amount of value, But to regard them as committing the Japanese Government. to any particular corse of action, Would be a mistake. The Japanese Government is presumably capable of communteating opinions on any disputed matter directly to the other government concerned, and iit does it can be assumed that it does not it worthwhile. This attitude explains why the British Government was able t0 say until quite recently that it had never received. any demand from the Japanese Government for the handing over of the Chinese aliver held in the British Concession in Tientsin, In London the demands made by spokesmen in Tientsin and Peiping, many of whom hold comparatively junior ranks, have rightly been treated according to their' proper importance, As a matter of {net these statements, demands, and ultimatums have done little more" than confuse the issues between Japan and foreign, Powers. To those familiar with European, usage, it i almost incredible that a Japanes army officer, even of the high rank of major-general, can when it suits him make state. ments that Japan would only be satisfied by tain stated concessions, while his own Govment, ineluiding his senor emeers, are negotiating over the problem which has inspired his declaration. "Such an action in a european army would be regarded as a serious breach of discipline. In most European Governments there is a distinct line drawn beyond which oficial spokesmen are not permitted to There is a distinction between "fact" and "policy." No British army or navy spokesmen would dream of trying to dictate to his Government what line of policy it should purste, but he would be authoritzod to reveal all the facts fon any particular situation that it ig' deemed wise that the public should know, No such rule apparently "applies In the Japanese ser= vices, with a result that the public in Japan and elsewhere is misled, and embarrassing situations must frequently' be caused %0 those oflicitls in Tokyo whose duty it is to explain away the strange utterances of colonels and commanders in far distant places, Expelled from Italy Mr. H.R, "Bud" king, manager of the United Press Bureau in Itome, is now added to the rowing list of journalists who have, for ne reason or another, been expelled from the totalitarian states, and ax he only assumed office on July 16, it cannot be said that his stay fu Italy has been of very long duration. Mi. Eking will be remembered as an old China liliand, having been connected with the United Press in Shanghai and Peiping for several yours, and coming out to China again when hostilities broke out. In 1996, it will be membered that he made a fast trip round the world beating a competitor with some con siderable ime in hand, Just exactly what the complaint ig that has ed to Mr. Ekins's expulsion from Ttaly has not been made known, though it is believed to be the report emanat= Ing from London to the effect. that Signor Mussolini had. been suffering from a heart fallacy and gastric trouble. Upon receiving in= Formation of what had been issued in London the ome office of the United Press seems to have promptly issued a correction stating that Duco was apparently in yeo health," The original report, which is stated to have originate diplomatic quarters in London usually considered reliable, was apparently cabled in all good faith, as it must have been published by a large number of papers throughout. the world, It-seems on the face of things to have been an honest mistake which the Rome ofice fof the United Press corrected with duc des paateh, and while of course it is the sole conern of any government who amongst aliens shall reside under its jurisdiction, if indeed the reason for the expulsion of Mr. Ekins was as wwe, then the action of the Talian seems to have been unusually drastic, Tt is, fortunately, not likely that this expulsion will have any harmful effect upon Mr. Ekins's career, for his service with his ews agency has been a long and honourable tone, and one in which he fat established a Worldwide reputation,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.