London, Jan. 25.
Lord Halifax, Foreign Secretary, yesterday denied that Britain intended to injure the feelings of Japan in forcibly removing 21 German passengers from the inv. Asama Maru, 35 miles off the east coast of Japan, on Sunday.
In a 40-minute interview with Mr. Mamoru Shigemitsu, the Foreign Secretary proposed "a friendly settlement" of the incident, emphasizing that there had been no change in the British policy of seeking to im-Anglo-Japanese relations, Domei learned.
Lord Halifax was said.to have declared that the sole purpose of the British action was to. defeat German plans of recruiting technicians, particularly submarine crews, from all parts of the world. It was a measure for the prosecution of the present war against Germany, he was said to The Japanese Ambassador, it was reliably understood, rejected Lord Halifax's explanations, urging the Mir, reconsideration of the British Go ernment in the matter, pointing out that. the affair had dangerously aroused Japanese public opinion. He also emphasized that the Japanese Government, did not share the British interpretation of the British warship's action.
A British reply unsatisfactory to the Japanese Government could easily aggravate the relations between the two tations, he was reported to have
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.