JAPAN'S RISE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 57, 8 March 1934, Page 11

JAPAN'S RISE.

" CIVILISED NATION."

SYDNEY MAN'S ADMIRATION.

WOOL BUYING PROSPECTS,

"The brightest spot in the trade outlook is the big prospect there is for our wool," said Mr. R. G. Y. Fear, of Sydney, managing director of the National Brush Company, of Australia, who is visiting Wellington after a recent comprehensive tour of the Orient, states the "Dominion." "On account of the low price of wool during the last three years, the Japanese have been able to use it in the manufacture of clothing. People who had never worn anything but cotton goods have had a taste of the warmth and comfort of woollen fabrics—and they like it. On this account it would not surprise me to see a steady demand from Japan and, later, on, from China. That and the fact that South Africa lost 10,000,000 sheep last year through drought, should help to sustain the price of wool for some time to come.

"I returned from the Fast with a tremendous admiration for the Japanese, and fixed ideas as to their aspirations," Mr. Fear continued. "As a people they are clean, orderly and lawabiding. Poverty and cleanliness go hand in hand there. They are clean in the preparation and partaking of their meals. A Japaneso would never think of entering his own house wearing the shoes in which ho has walked the streets; nor does ho enter any one of his exquisitely beautiful temples without leaving his footwear at the door. These qualities, combined with his amazing patriotic spirit, and his industry, lift him on to a high plane of mankind. This nation is one of the best controlled and most civilised on earth.

Japanese Action in China. "Every European living in the East is very grateful for tho cleaning-up' work done by Japan in connection with Manchuria and the ilai'e-up at Shanghai. China is in a hopeless mess, and Shanghai, sometimes called the 'Paris of the East,' is really the cesspool of the East. Almost the whole of China is uncontrolled and without any coordinated government. As the result, banditry is rife in some parts of the country. No one ever feels quite safe, and the poor farmers arc utterly bereft of any hope of being able to gain the full benefit of" their labour. There were murders and kidnappings in the heart of Shanghai when I was there. People are warned never to go out alone at night; and never to travel alone by rickshaw after dark, but to take a taxi of a recognised brand. "Canton is a city of stenches. I found that the river and all the streams running into it were packed with sampans on which people lived and died, often without going ashore. As there was no pretence at sanitation you can imagine the conditions. "At the back of it all was the la'ck of co-ordinated Government control. The Nanking Government was severely circumscribed in its influence, and had little control over the various war lords, and groups of bandits who ranged the country. Protection of Interests. "Under these conditions, was it any wonder that Japan's action in Manchuria was welcomed? The whole country was riddled with bandits. There was no unified control, and the best elements of the Chinese population were utterly disheartened. Japan had certain interests, and to protect them she had to take action. JTliis led to the creation of the new State of Manchukuo, and Japanese influence will probably remain until the Manchukuo house has been put in order.

"The big bogy to the Japanese is Bolshevism and Soviet aggression. Japan is determined to block Russia from encroaching on what she considers her preserves, and the new State will act as a buffer. I do not for one moment believe that Japan has any ideas on the capture of Australia and New Zealand. She has her hands full now with her troubles in Manchuria and China, and is not looking for new far-away colonies. "I never saw a busier people than the Japanese," said Mr. Fear. "Everyone seems to have a job, and they all tear into their work in great style. While they are not overpaid they are not underpaid, according to the standard of living. A diet of rice with _an occasional bit of meat seems to satisfy them. It is the low standard of living which is enabling them to compete even against high tariffs in the markets of tho world, and how that is to be overcome I do not know."