A Chinese proverb has it that, "Though the rays of the sun and the moon are very bright, they cannot penetrate beneath an inverted bowl." No better description of the blanket laid down by the Germans on news from the outside world could have been thought of than this. No rays can penetrate beneath the inverted bowl of Nazi censorship. It is, perhaps, unfortunate that only one nation is going to suffer from this. For the Germans are cut off from all contacts with the outside world; they do not know what is being done and planned against them; they are not allowed to know, or otherwise they might be forced to change their opinions. A somewhat similar policy of inverting the bowl is being pursued by the Japanese in the present municipal election. They will not permit the facts, or what the other side believe to be the facts, to be known to any voters under their jurisdiction. This was evidenced yesterday in the summary contise: tion of all copies of the German "Gelbe Post, which contained a reasonable article advising German Jewish refugees that they had little to do with the present Shanghai municipal quarrel, and that, therefore, they should abstain from casting votes for any side whatsoever. All copies of the paper which were to have been distributed North of the Creek, were confiscated by plain-clothes Japanese. A non-provocative and eminently reasonable statement was suppressed by those who wish to keep a large section of the Shanghai public "under the bowl" This local instance of the suppress sion of views is nothing to what is happening in the European countries which are under the domination of Herr Hitler. There, not so much as a suspicion that the Nazis are losing the war and are putting Germany and the Gerrhan people into a great deal more difficult position than they ever were in 1918, has been allowed to escape. But, unfortunately for the Nazis, the evidence of the stomach cannot be neglected. If a German can only obtain two eggs a month, he wants to know the reason why. If the reason is that other Powers have been trying to prevent the German nation's expansion into south-eastern Europe—the encirclement bogey—the German public may be pardoned if th consider it inadequate. But they have no opp: unity to consider the facts in this light. They are "under the bowl." And no matter how bright are the rays of the sun or the moon, they cannot penetrate under an inverted bowl The Ankara Sails It will be interesting to see what happens in connection with the German vessel Ankara, which, it is reported, has now left Dubrovnik with a cargo of bauxite on board for Trieste whence, if it reaches that port, the cargo will be transported overland by rail to Germany. The captain of the vessel has two choices of route, one skirting the Yugoslav coast within territorial limits, and the other to take to the open sea. Both have their dangers. Even with a Yugoslav pilot on board the dangerous reefs abounding in these waters make such a voyage positively perilous, though it does afford an opportunity of evading the British war vessels which are reported to be on the look-out for her. Should the captain decide to take to the open sea, to which he may be forced despite the assistance of the pilot, the British navy has an opportunity of picking her up, though it has to be remembered that as the Ankara's voyage would be rather less than 600 miles, the navy will have to be quick if it is to intercept her. The report that Italy and Yugoslavia may decide to close the Adriatic te all war vessels is interesting and important. The Strait of Otranto being about fifty miles wide is not all territorial waters, and the Allied navies commit no breach of international law in this matter if they choose to enter the Adriatic. On the other hand to seek to close those waters to all war vessels would in fact amount to a departure from neutrality, for it is obvious tha' as the German navy is in no position to make ust of them, and the Allies are, it is designed te hamper the freedom of movement which supriority at sea has secured for them. It is to be hoped that this step will not be taken, for otherwise it may have the effect of seriously pre-indicing the position in the Mediterranean.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.