Nov. 18.
Mrs. X's nail amah has a friend who is married to a Japanese. Her husband told Mrs. X's nail amah's friend, who told Mrs, X's nail amah, who told Mrs. X, who passed it on without any idea of creating alarm, of course, but just for what it was worth, that General Togo—or is it Tejo or Tokyo? "Anyway something beginning with T and ending with O—has always wanted war, and. that now he is Prime Minister there is bound to a bust up of some description or other. Mrs, X's nail amah's friend is not certain whether Japan's next move will be to the north, against Soviet Russia, oF to the south, against Burma, Thailand,' anc the Malay States. But Mrs. X's nail amah is quite certain that it is too cold to move in the north, and too hot to move in the south, and that therefore Shanghai is going to get it in the neck. Thus a story is started which gathers speed and momentum with an inevitability Which far surpasses Newton's law of gravity, until by the time of its final impact upon the eardrum of the ordinary Shanghailander has accumulated so much horror that. it would have made Attila wake up screaming in the night. That, in a. nutshell, is the work of the Fifth Column in Shanghai.
There is no disputing the fact that foreigners. in Shanghai may be facing an extremely difficult, if not dangerous, situation if developments go as everyone hopes they will not, The authorities of those powers whose nationals are most likely to be involved in any unpleasantness have issued warnings advising those who can do so to evacuate, and a great many persons have
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.