JAPANESE EXCLUSION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 35, 9 February 1906, Page 3

JAPANESE EXCLUSION.

"A CLOUD ON THE HORIZON 1 . ,,

MX. SEDDON OBJECTS TO INTERFERENCE.

The Rt. Hon. R. J. Seddon. in a speech j at PalmersUm North, said there was one question above all others: He wanted to : .see New Zea.la.nd remain firm and true on ! the purity of race. (Applause.) There were some who were callous, but to-day there was a cloud on the horizon to which he directed attention, and he -would say to Parliament and to the peoplo, "we will have no interference., but will sink all party differences and show a bold front in protection of the race." (Applause.) The "Poßt," commenting upon the Premier's remarks, said: "Beating the air and slaying the, s>Latn are operations in which Mr. Seddon has indulged lief ore now, but we are very much afraid that in the present instance he is not referring to a non-existent, a remote, or a slumbering danger. We hn_ve indeed good reason for believing that both the, New Zealand Government ajid that of the Commonwealth are in possession of despatches from the Imperial authorities which involve a very serious menace both to the racial purity of these colonies and to their legislative hidejiendence. If our information is correct, xhoso despatches emanated not from the. present Liberal Cabinet in the Old Country, but from its predecessor ; and the natural inference is that this action is the result of representations from the great Far Eastern Power with which Great Britain has recently renewed and tightened her old alliance. If Japan is nerw urging the free admission of her subjects to all parts of the British Empire as a logical result of her alliance with that Empire on terms of equality, the peril of the colonies is grave indeed; and New Zealand at. any rate will respond as one man to the appeal which Mr. Seddon has made. If this colony rang with indignation at the proposal to inundate the Transvaal with Chinamen, and still looks upon its accomplishment with horror and loathing, what will be its feelings if the same danger is suddenly brought directly to its own doors? Mr. Seddon need have no fear but that New Zealand I will stand by him in the most vigorous protest he can make.' . The "New Zealand Times" says: "We arc happy to be able to allay our contemporary's anxiety about those despatches, as far as New Zealand is concerned. The Premier has had no such communications nor despatches, nor is he aware that Japan has been urging the free admission of her people to New Zealand or other parts of our Empire. Neither is Mr. Seddon informed that any Eastern Power has raad<> representations to the British Covernment on the subject. The Premier does not think, either, that any understanding of nuch a character would be come to when the recent alliance was mado bet/ween Britain and Japan. Some months ago Mr. Seddon drew attention to what appears to be the nntural corollary to the altered conditions of the East, and the danger, not only from Japa<noso, but from Chinese, as demonstrated by tho boycott, of German and j American goods at Hongkong and Pekin. i Mr. Seddon considers that the weak point in the situation is the Northern Territory of Australia, and ho warmly commends President Roosevelt's advice to "Mr. Beale (president of tlie Allied Manufacturers' [Association of Australia) (.ho other day: "Open your floors to immigration. Bewarr> of keeping your far north empty." Mr. Seddon says Mr. Roosevelt's advice is well-timed, and the Premier urges that the interests of Australia and New Zealand arc so interwoven that what threatens the one must be a danger to the other. "'The right to regulate who should be admitted to a self-governing colony," adds the Premier, '"is a sacred privlege which should be held inviolable."