The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 1901 THE JAPANESE IN THE SCHOOL FOR WAR.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 95, 23 April 1901, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 1901

THE JAPANESE IN THE SCHOOL FOR WAR.

Por tho cause that laelcs assistance, ?or the -wrong tfcat needs resistance, Por the fntnro in tho distance, jnd the good that we can do.

The Tokio correspondent of the London "Times" defines the feeling that is very prevalent in Japan as that of a school boy who knows he won't receive proper respect or consideration from the other fellows unI til he has thrashed a boy bigger than himself. If Russian policy in the East is persisted in, it is more than probable that Japan will have an opportunity of testing her strength with one of the most powerful nations on earth. In 1895 Japan poured out her blood and treasures in a. struggle with China, only to be tricked out of the spoils of victory. The encroachment upon Korea and Korean affairs by Russia Japan must resist. From every standpoint of strategy, economics, politics, Japan must be paramount in Korea or begin her course of decline.

To these facts the Japanese are fully alive, and in the school for war which is being conducted on Chinese soil just now wdth many of the best military instructors of the world as teachers, the Japanese have been observant, absorbing information, familiarising themselves with military tactics, and all the most modem and approved weapons of warfare. One result is that competent judges on the spot affirm that the Japanese generals having learned much of the efficiency and weakness of the Russian position in the Far East are satisfied that they can afford to play a patient waiting game, and that in the event of a disruption they will be able to hold their own.

The Japanese soldier has had an opportunity of testing his courage, endurance, and fighting qualities side by side with, the soldiers of all the Great Powers; and he has stood the test so well that more or less grudingly it is now universally acknowledged that the Jap fighting unit can hold his own with any of them.

An equally important lesson which Japan has recently profited by in the school for war is that supplied by the recent struggle in South Africa. The events in this war have been watched with keenest interest by the Japanese. They have seen the richest, and in some respects the strongest, nation on the earth compelled to put into the field over 200,000 men,

supported by a strong navy, and

practically inexhaustible treasure, in order to subjugate some thousands of Boer farmers, who were without any of the supports so richly possessed by Great Britain. They saw these Boer farmers keeping- in check for many months Britain's armies; tbey learned that already this war has cost Great Britain very many thousands in men who will war no more; and that ere the country is entirely pacified a large standing army will be necessary for a long* while to come.

The significance of all this is not lost upon the astute Japanese. They are assured that in the event of hos-

tilities with Russia they have nothing to fear from an invasion by that or any other Power, Commenting upon this fact a Japanese officer recently remarked: ''Imagine what would be tlie position of an invading army,

even if we no longer had a fleet in being, in a country scarcely less broken and difficult than South Africa, in the midst of an absolutely homogeneous and bitterly hostile population of 40,000,000, whose fighting force would be reckoned not in tony, but in hundreds of thousands, as hardy, as active, as well trained

to the use of modern weapons and inspired by a patriotism at least as fierce as the Boers." Having learned such a lesson it is not surprising if the result is a growing spirit of selfreliance and self-respect amongst the leaders and the rank and file in Japan.

In the naval portion of the obsequies of our late beloved. Queen it was noted that the largest ship of war was not a British vessel, but a Japanese. Japan has a fleet that commands respect amongst all nations —numerous, well manned, modern; so that before an invader could land on Japanese soil at all he would have to be prepared for an enormous sacrifice of human life and treasure. Then having landed, with the lessons of the South African struggle before us, we cannot resist the conclusion to which the Japanese have come, that a task would be before the invader of such magnitude that the chances of reaping success would be very remote indeed.

Iti connection with the manoeuvring of the Powers in the East the relations of Russia and Japan are of exceeding interest Russia's pulicy seems to be to gradually secure control and then to absorb. The probability is that in Japanese circles the domination of Manchuria by Russia, while n%t liked, would not be resisted by force; but we are assured that

there is not a Japanese minister today but would vote for war with Russia if she attempted the domination of Korea. Japan has given her unreserved adhesion to the Anglo-Ger-

man agreement for preserving the integrity of the Chinese Empire, but there is no telling how the present course of events may compel the Powers to depart from their good intentions, and adopt another policy.

In the meantime the two greatest sufferers are China and Japan. The prolongation of the Chinese crisis is seriously affecting all branches of trade in Japan. With the strain of economic conditions tlje irritation of the people must increase; and the entf is not yet in sight. The peace and prosperity of Japan are not without interest ✓to Great Britain. Many causes have been at work to bring Japan into cordial relations with Great Britain and the United States; and as the interests of these nations become more closely identified? one cannot be threatened with an hostile force without injury to the others. The reasonable conclusion that in the event of hostilities Japan would give a good account of herself is therefore

the more gratifying.