WILL VISIT JAPAN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 71, 23 March 1908, Page 5

WILL VISIT JAPAN.

BBITISH DIPLOMATIC

TEIUMPH.

(By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.)

NEW YORK, March 21.

-A cordial invitation to the United States battleship fleet to visit any port in Japan on the homeward cruise was presented to Mr. Elihu Root (Secretary of State) on Thursday and accepted yesterday. The fleet will visit Yokohama. . Mr. W..H. Taft (Secretary of War), in the course of an interview, predicted a warm welcome which would surprise pessimists. He added that there had been no addition to the programme 'of fortifications on the Paciic Coast as fixed some years ago. ' S: " , LONDON, March 21. "The Daily Mail" states that the meeting of the Japanese and American fleets will be welcomed by all, and adds that.it is the result of British diplomacy. The New York correspondent of the "Daily Express" states that the projected visit of the fleet to Japan has stirred the whole country from Maine to California, and- that the Government has ef[fectually silenced the jingoes. According jto naval experts the fleet is in a better I condition now than it was at the start. The voyage around Cape Horn, 'they state, demonstrated the thorough seaworthiness of the ship's. The "Daily News" remarks.that the invitation was pleasant and tactful, and its acceptance a happy omen for the future. The Washington correspondent of the "Daily Chronicle" says that as Mr. Deakin's invitation had been accepted, the Cabinet judged it imperative that no difference should be made in the case of Japan. The decision, it is added, was well received, in the belief that it would lead to the devolopment of improved relations between, the two countries.