Barrier restrictions have remained the same. Four British subjects have been stripped and searched, but no further incidents are reported in the latest telegram received from His Majesty's Consul-General. It was announced by the Japanese News Agency that the barbed wire encircling the British and French Concessions would be electrically charged from the late evening of 19th June. As regards stocks of food, there are ample supplies of flour and rice in the British Concession; arrivals of perishable foodstuffs remain spasmodic and far below normal. There would appear to be no ban on foodstuffs entering the Concession, but the Japanese authorities claim that all such commodities as vegetables have to be searched at the barriers and this causes considerable delay. As regards shipping, matters have considerably improved, and ships using the river have latterly not been stopped by the Japanese military authorities.

The various incidents which have marked the enforcement of the blockade have been taken up by His Majesty's Ambassador at Tokyo with the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs. who has promised to institute inquiries into the various cases of discrimination and ill-treatment brought to his notice. The position of the Japanese Government on the main issues concerned is still not clear, and it is not yet decided whether these issues are to be discussed in Tokyo or Tientsin, but we expect to hear further on these matters to-day or to-morrow.

Of the battalion which forms the British garrison in North China, rather more than one-half is, according to the latest strength returns, now stationed in Tientsin.