BLACK DRAGONS URGE JAPAN TO ACTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 174, 25 July 1935, Page 7

BLACK DRAGONS URGE JAPAN TO ACTION.

JH AFRICAN DISPUTE.

Powerful Secret Society

Denounces Italy.

GUNS FOR ABYSSINIA? (United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Received 12.30 p.m.) LONDON", July 24. As a sequel to the anti-Japanese outbreaks in the Italian Press the Black Dragon Society has urged the Japanese Prime Minister and the Ministers of War, Navy, and Foreign Affairs to take steps to settle the Italo-Abyssiiiian dispute.

The society was largely responsible for Japan's declaration of war against Russia in 1004. and the withdrawal of Japan from the League in 1933.

The society's leaders have cabled denouncing Italy's pressure on Abyssinia as flouting international justice and urging Signor Mussolini to withdraw his troops.

No Japanese Government dare suppress the Black Dragon Society, which is centuries old.

A message from Geneva states that Japanese agents are rushing quantities of arms and ammunition to Jibuti. French Somaliland, realising that the treaty arrangements with France guarantee freedom for the traffic.

A dispatch, from Rome states that Signor Virginio Gayda, editor of the "Giornale d'ltalia," declares that if Britain permits the export of arms to Abyssinia Italy will remember it as an act of hostility.

The Paris correspondent of "The Times" says France will support Britain's efforts to keep the Abyssinian dispute -within the jurisdiction of the League of Nations.

The correspondent asserts that Signor Mussolini, sobered by the General Staff's anxieties, warned by the difficulty of keeping the lira on gold, and also by Japanese opposition, may not deliver an irreparable blow until every other possibility has been exhausted.

The Rome correspondent of "The Times" says experts declare that the suspension of the gold cover does not imply devaluation. The Italian Government intends to reconstitute its gold reserves at the earliest possible moment and will meet all its engagements.

A GRIM POWER.

BLACK DRAGON SOCIETY.

The Black Dragon Society is a secret organisation which dominates the thinkin" of the young military oflicers of Japan. It is difficult to know precisely to what extent the society is the tool of the young officers, and conversely the extent "to which the young officere are dominated by the society. Young military officere in Japan are recruited mainly from the rural districts, and throughout their service, even if they reach high rank in tho army, they keep closely in touch, with their homee, where there is great poverty, due to the depression in Japanese agriculture. They therefore feel a great grievance against the big city bankers an.", the politicians, and thus feel it is their destiny, by purifying home politics and extending Japan's domains overseas, to raise the standard of living of the farmers.

Nearly every effort that the civil Government and the leading financiers lave made in recent years to establish co-operative relations with other Powers have been opposed by either the younger officers or the Black Dragon Society, or loth, on the grounds that th?se efforts -were weakening Japan's international position and leaving her at the mercy of unscrupulous politicians, and the moneyed interests. Cabinet Ministers, and at least one of the great hankers, have been assassinated recently because, presumably, they strove for international co-operation. It is generally believed in Japan that the agents or adherents of the Black Dragon Society are responsible for these killings.

Centuries old, the society's influence is in the very blood of the Japanese. It is not primarily confined to the proleteriat class, and its adherents can be best described as professional patriots. They are recruited chiefly fro-1 the middle classes and the agricultural community, who have a sen.e of grievance, but who profess flaming loyaltv to the Emperor. His Imperial Majesty does not publicly take sides. Many of the younger officers in the navy also come under its influence.

Both chauvinistic and belligerent in intentions, the Black Dragon Society is feared by leaders in almost every walk of life in Japan. It wields tremendous power in times of crisis, and then seems to subside for a period of years, only to flare up again and embarrass Japan s most intelligent statesmen.

The society's methods of secret intimidation and physical violence, cornLined with fervid hut superficial patriotism, are sometimes compared with the bigotry and terrorism that have characterised the Ku Klux Klan in the United States of America. But those who know the omnipotent ramifications of the Black Dragon Society realise that the activities of the once dreaded Ku Klux Klan are but child's play in comparison. There is a feeling of fear throughout Japan of the society, and public attacks are rarely made against it. The Japanese Press has learned from bitter experience in the past that it does not pay to criticise the activities of the Black Dragons. Only in recent years an editor of a leading paper was cruelly beaten to death for an unguarded comment in his paper.

FOREIGN FLYERS.

AVIATORS FOR ABYSSINIA. (Received 2 p.m.) NICE, July 24. Pour British and eight French and American aviators are going to AbysBinia in August. Their leader, Hal Duberrier, of Chicago, says they will constitute a nucleus of a foreign air force with the German and Dutch aeroplanes, which will await them on their arrival. The enterprise has •wealthy private backers.