The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 6, Issue 4 (September 1, 1931.)
A Flash of Force
A Flash of Force.
As if this ominous series of happenings was not enough, the world was at the same time startled by breaches of discipline in the Atlantic Fleet, intended as a demonstration against reduced pay (such reductions being regarded as part of the price paid for the new Government's balanced Budget), and by Japan's armed intervention in Manchuria. The naval incident was luridly represented on the Continent, and added to the strain of the sterling crisis. It is still somewhat veiled in mystery; so is the Japanese-Chinese clash and its reactions upon the Nanking and Manchurian Administrations and upon the League of Nations. But so quickly had the financial and military clouds gathered that for the moment India was almost forgotten. It looked as if the wise men from the East had gathered in London to listen to the rumbles of Western materialism, engrossed with its own peculiar evils.