HC Deb 21 August 1940 vol 364 cc1276-8
3. Mr. Hannah

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any statement to make respecting the operation of the Police Agreement arrived at on 19th June, 1940, relating to Tientsin?

Mr. Butler

His Majesty's Consul-General at Tientsin reports that the Police Agreement is working smoothly.

4. Mr. Hannah

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what results have accrued from representations made to the Japanese Government about the failure of local authorities to suppress anti-British manifestations in the Japanese occupied areas of China?

Mr. Butler

Anti-British manifestations at the present time are confined almost entirely to Press attacks.

5. Mr. Hannah

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any statement to make respecting the operation of the agreement of 19th June, 1940, respecting silver and currency at Tientsin?

Mr. Butler

The provisions of the agreement respecting silver and currency are being duly observed. As regards the silver, arrangements have been made for the sale of an amount approximately equivalent to £100,000, and the proceeds are to be expended for famine relief in North China. The rest of the silver remains under seal in the vaults of the Chinese bank where it has hitherto been stored.

13. Captain Alan Graham

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether any satisfactory reply has been received to our representations to the Japanese Government respecting restrictions imposed on the trade of third Powers in North and Central China?

Mr. Butler

My Noble Friend is asking for a report on the result of the recent representations which His Majesty's Ambassador in Tokyo was authorised to make to the Japanese Government on this subject.

14. Captain Graham

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any information respecting the application of a revised Customs tariff for the Japanese-occupied parts of China?

Mr. Butler

My Noble Friend has no information of any recent revision of the Customs tariff for the Japanese occupied parts of China.

18. Mr. Edmund Harvey

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to the acute need in China for further Red Cross supplies and for surgical implements and drugs for the civilian population; and whether arrangements can now be made for the supply of these to China by way of Burma?

Mr. Butler

His Majesty's Ambassador at Tokyo has approached the Japanese Government about the importation into China of petrol for the internal distribution of Red Cross material, and is endeavouring to obtain an early reply.

Mr. Noel-Baker

In view of the urgent need of the Chinese for all that they can store, will the Government consider making a grant from our stores to help the Chinese?

Mr. Butler

Medical stores can pass into China; the difficulty is to obtain petrol to distribute the stores in China.

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