Tientsin, Jan. 30.
British and American press reaction to the renewed electrification of the barbed wire fences surrounding the British and French concessions here were held by local Japanese authorities as indicative of "guilty consciences."
The British, they pointed out, attributed the action to a Japanese desire to retaliate for the forcible removal by the British Navy of 21 German passengers of the Asama Maru on January 21, while Americans tended to associate the step with the abrogation of the American-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation, The Japanese authorities declared that the electrification of the fences was only a return to a condition prevailing before August 20, when the floods made it imperative for an al-deviation of the blockade measures on humanitarian grounds, In announcing their intention again to charge the wire fences with electricity at 5 o'clock on Sunday, the Japanese military authorities, on Saturday, pointed out that many anti-Japanese elements were slipping through the fences from the concessions into Japanese-occupied territory.—Domei.
Representations to be Made London, Jan. 30.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.