"Navy Scare"

British correspondents at Shanghai told in alarmist despatches, last week, that "the Chinese Nationalist Government has laid down plans for a navy of 600,000 tons."

The Shanghai "navy scare" seemed to be based on a purely general remark let fall by Nationalist Generalissimo Chiang Kaishek, when he christened, last week, the tiny new warboat Sienning, Chiang said:

"The emancipation of China depends on elevating the country to a first-class power and building a strong navy."

Many attentive listeners heard Chiang say nothing about 600,000 tons.