MANCHURIAN DISPUTE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 14, 14 December 1932, Page 9

MANCHURIAN DISPUTE.

COMMITTEE OF CONCILIATION. JAPAN DECLINES TO PARTICIPATE. GENEVA, Dec. 13. The Japanese Government lias instructed the Japanese delegation, to decline to participate in the proposed Manchurian Conciliation Committee. Japan objects to the application of Article XV. and declares that it is impossible for the proposed Committee of Nineteen to arrive at an equitable decision on such a complicated situation and denies the propriety of any application of the sanctions. OFFER OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE. REJECTION BY JAPAN. Received December 14, 8.45 a.m. LONDON, Dec. 13. The Sun service learns that Sir John Simon has privately communicated with Tokio urging Japan to agree to the dispute to be arbitrated by a Special Conciliation Committee which would meet in a calmer atmosphere than the Committee of Nineteen. The first news of the proposal was contained in this morning’s Tokio and Geneva messages announcing Japan’s rejection. it is now expected that the Committee of Nineteen will proceed according to programme. JAPANESE POLICY IN MANCHURIA. NO COMPROMISE ON LYTTON ' REPORT. Few delegates to international conferences have left Japan more carefully prepared or amid greater manifestations of public interest than Mr Matsuoka, who departed late in October with a large personally selected staff for Geneva, to attend the League deliberations on the Lytton Report. If the Government has any concessions in mind the delegate naturally would not disclose them. In a parting conversation with the London Times correspondent Mr Matsuoka dwelt much on the disturbed conditions in China. The restoration of peace and order in China, he said, was humanity’s greatest task in the twentieth century. Quoting the Lytton Commission’s tenth general principle, he said that if the peace machinery had been capable of dealing with the internal situation of China there would have been no incident of September 18, 1931 (the date of the attack on the South Manchuria Railway) and none of its distressing consequences. Asked if a compromise based on the commission’s recommendations were possible, he said: —Not now. Our recognition of Manchukuo was due to our conviction that the situation was without remedy except by the complete separation of Manchuria from China’s disorders. We have no desire to take on the responsibility of administering Manchuria, but as Chinese chaos is the ultimate cause of the Manchurian trouble we cannot accept the restoration of Chinese sovereignty in any form.