§ LORD ADDISONMy Lords, may I ask His Majesty's Government whether they are in a position to make any statement about the arrest of British subjects in Japan?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (VISCOUNT HALIFAX)My Lords, as your Lordships will be aware from the reports in the Press, eleven prominent British subjects were detained by the Japanese gendarmerie on July 27; and with your Lordships' permission I will circulate the names of the eleven persons in the OFFICIAL REPORT. His Majesty's Ambassador has subsequently reported that two others are also believed to have been detained. On July 29 the Ministries of War and Justice in Tokyo made a. joint announcement to the effect that:
In view of the ever-increasing activities of foreign organs of espionage and conspiracy in this country of late, the military police, under the direction of prosecutors, arrested, as a first step on July 27, those constituting part of a British espionage network covering the entire country.2 It is hardly necessary for me to state that there is no foundation whatsoever for this allegation by the Japanese Government.A further joint announcement by the Japanese Ministries of War and Justice stated that Mr. Melville James Cox, Reuter's correspondent at Tokyo, was arrested on a charge of espionage and threw himself from a third-storey room of the Tokyo military police headquarters on July 29 and died at 3.46 p.m. The announcement states that in the light of a note addressed to his wife, which was discovered on his person—I quote—
it seems that with the progress of the investigation, the deceased became aware of the fact that he could not escape conviction.His Majesty's Government are entirely unable to accept this totally unwarranted assumption of guilt. Strong representations have already been made by His Majesty's Ambassador at Tokyo to the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs. I myself asked the Japanese Ambassador to call upon me this morning, when I left His Excellency in no doubt as to the serious view which His Majesty's Government took of these arrests. I would prefer to say no more at the present stage.
§ LORD ADDISONMy Lords, I thank the noble Viscount for that statement. I am sure we should all wish that His Majesty's Government should continue to take a firm line in this matter. We have a lively recollection of the satisfaction they ultimately obtained in the case where a number of British subjects were arrested in Russia on a similar sort of charge.
§ The names of British subjects referred to by Lord Halifax are as follows:
§ Mr. Melville James Cox, Reuter's correspondent in Tokyo.
§ Captain James, R.N. (retired), representative of the Federation of British Industries in Tokyo.
§ Mr. L. T. Woolley, of the Rising Sun Petroleum Company, Yokohama.
§ Mr. R. Holder, of Messrs. Brunner, Mond & Co., Kobe, and President of the Kobe branch of the British Association of Japan.
§ Mr. E. W. James, Manager of Cameron & Co., Kobe, and President of the Kobe and Osaka Foreign Chamber of Commerce, and Honorary Consul for Sweden.
§ Mr. F. M. Jonas, of Messrs. Nickel & Lyons, Kobe.
§ Mr. J. P. T. Drummond, of Frazar & Co., Osaka.
§ Mr. H. M. McNaughton, British merchant and Honorary Consul for Greece.
§ Mr. J. F. James, of Messrs. Nickel & Lyons, Kobe.
§ Mr. S. A. Ringer, British merchant and Vice-Consul at Shimonoseki.
§ Mr. F. E. E. Ringer, British merchant and Vice-Consul at Nagasaki.
§ His Majesty's Ambassador has subsequently reported that a school teacher named de Trafford, of Nagasaki, and a Mr. E. G. Price, a British merchant of Kobe, are also believed to have been detained.