Questioned at the press conference yesterday, the naval spokesman stated that when H.M.S. Birmingham arrived in Tsingtao, officers of the vessel conferred with the Japanese command regarding the release of the St. Vincent de Paul. Subsequently, the Captain of H.MS. Birmingham and H.M. Consul called upon the Commissioner of Customs to discuss the matter. The latter was a Japanese, it was averred.
Was the ship released by the Customs at the order of the competent Japanese authority? it was (Continued on page 8)
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.