that unkno us on October 24 in the B. & S. s. Whangpu had fired into the backs of eleven Japanese soldiers, who were engaged in mopping up Chinese guerillas fifteen kilometres east of Kiangyin on the south bank of the Yangtze. A most el photic protest had been filed on Monday by the Japanese Embassy with the British diplomatic authorities in Shanghai.
With regard to this protest, Mr. A. V. T. Dean, of Butterfield & Swire, stated last night that an enquiry had been made with the captain of the vessel and "fails to show any found tion whatever for the accusation He also stated that according to the ship's log she. was several miles downstream from Changkiakong at the time that the shooting was alleged to have occurred.
The British authorities in Shanghai stated they had received a note to the above effect yesterday from the Japanese Consul-General but that as the result of preliminary examination of the facts they find that the s. Whangpoo was more than fifteen miles from the scene of the alleged firing at the time stated in the Japanese report. The British authorities will be replying to the Japanese note in due course,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.