"As a naval officer I am reluctant to believe that the statement I have referred to, though it was published in a Shanghai paper, wes really made by any responsible American naval officer. That is why we asked the. American authorities if there was any truth in the story.
"To speak quite frankly, when we think coolly in Tokyo about such an affair, it seems somewhat absurd, But our officers and men, who are engaged in the actual hostilities, take such things very seriously, and their feelings have to be considered. Therefore officers and gentlemen ought to be very careful in what they say." the spokesman observed.
Turning to other matters, Admiral Kanazawa said that the general sit-nation seems to be more delicate than ever, "and though our cabinet has changed there is no change whatever in our fundamental policy as regards the China affair, and specially in the navy, as Admiral Yonai remains as our minister in the new Cabinet, the same policy will be continued during, the new As to the fighting in China, operations will be continued, so it can safely be assumed that there will be no change in policy."
With reference to actual naval operations, the spokesman said that minesweepers have been busily engaged in destroying Chinese mine:
Yangtze. There was particular activity near Yochow, where with the ebbing of the river, the Japanese were destroying from 20 to 30 mines every day recently "The mines have, therefore decreased a good deal in number," he said, "and now only a few are being put out of action every day.
Kiangyin Attacked by Guerillas Remnants of Chinese soldiery along the Yangtze have been offering stubborn resistance, Admiral Kanazawa said, and toward the end of last year the navy, in ce-operation with the army, suppressed numbers of them at Hsiangkou and Tikong, On the last day of the year some of these soldier-bandits had the enterprise to attack the Torpedo and Mine School at Kiangnyn.
On the Pearl River also, Chinese y remnants have been active, and Japanese naval parties, in cooper: my, have been clearing them out practically every when These commanders, he continued, are exerting every effort to make it possible to reopen these rivers at the earlier practicable date, and the permission to the Kinshan to go to Canton is probably one expression of this effort being made not only on the spot but also in Tokyo. At sent, however, it is not possible ay anything definite as to how in the future the reopening of ation may be, he added.
"But I am sorry to have to re-severe damage was inflicted on the enemy near Shawan and Shihlouhsiang, the spokesman concluded. mind you," Admiral Kanazawa went on, "that when, in December, we permitted foreign warships to come down the Yangtze to Shanghai for the convenience of their personnel, two regrettable incidents occurred, apparently arising from statements made by foreign naval officers, which not very encouraging to us.
"One was a rumour that a Japanese plane had actually attacked one of these warships. The other was the story attributed to an officer on the American gunboat Luzon that Japanese escort had acted in a eatrical way by firing at imaginary guerillas on the river banks and sweepii mary mines with the v ting dangers to hich do not exist "Such statements, derogatory to the honour of the Japanese na are extremely regrettable, to say the least," the Admiral continued. "We have addressed inquiries to both the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.