JAPANESE AND AUSTRALIA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXII, Issue 8312, 28 February 1912, Page 6

JAPANESE AND AUSTRALIA.

Mr Arnold White, a well-known authority on naval matters, is reported to have told a gathering of Australians in London some two weeks ago that Japan had been "forced to admit that she had designs on Australia."... The Oriental Power, he added, " now made no secret of the fact that in the event oi Britain being engaged in a'struggle j in the North Sea an advance would be 1 made orr the Commonwealth;" It was " generally believed n that expeditions would be from Japan as soon as war was declared, and that " landings would be effected at three main strategic points in Australia." "This announcement," says the Sydney ' Sun/ "created a sensation among the Australians, although the few English officials who were present were not surprised. They remarked that what Mr White had said was well within the bounds of probability. In fact, Japan could hardly be expected to neglect such an opportunity of acquiring territory that was absolutely necessary for her national expansion." Happily Mr White's statement does not seem to Test upon any very definite authority, and it seems very improbable that Japan has admitted that she has the design attributed to her, thotigh it is quit© possible' that she cherishes the design. It seems likely that Mr White was magnifying matters to some extent, in his anxiety to impress upon Australians the need of defending their vast seaboard and their huge unoccupied territory. Up to the present time the Australians are more concerned about the Test Cricket Matches than about anything else under the sun or beyond it.