London, June 19.
The Board of Trade report on the measures which might be taken in the economic and commercial sphere as a reprisal against the Japanese action in Tientsin was studied at this.morning's meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Cabinet.
It is hoped in competent quarters here that Tokyo will be willing to settle the incident in a manner satisfactory to both parties. However, were Japan to maintain her present attitude, the measures contemplated this morning would be carried out immediately, it was stressed.
Following this mornings meeting, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister, conferred with Mr. Arthur Greenwood, Deputy Leader of the Labour Opposition in the House of Commons, who leads the Opposition in the absence of Major C. R. Attlee, who is ill, According to authorized quarters, the conversation did not bear upon the Far Eastern situation, but on the agenda of this afternoon's session in the House of Commons.
Competent quarters here openly discussed the possibilities examined by the Committee, Yesterday's communique issued by the Japanese Government is considered here as: comparatively moderate when compared to the attitude of the Japanese military authorities in Tientsin. These quarters hope that the incident will be "locally settled."
The impression prevailing here in political quarters tonight is that the British Cabinet is determined to make further efforts through diplomatic channels to obtain a "local settlement" of the affair, although elaborating a plan of reprisals against Japan in the event of an amicable settlement becoming impossible.—Havas,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.