THRUST BY JAPAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 153, 29 June 1940, Page 8

THRUST BY JAPAN.

NEW ZEALAND FEARS.

DANGER OVER-ESTIMATED.

EYES ON DUTCH EAST INDIES.

(By Telegraph. Own Correspondent.) NAPIER, this day. The belief that New Zealanders and Australians were inclined to lay too much emphasis on the danger of a Japanese threat to their countries was expressed by Mr. A. Schuman, of Banjung, in the Dutch East Indies, in an interview in which he discussed current cable reports. Dealing with the possibilities of Japanese expansion in the Pacific, Mr. Schuman remarked that in the short time he had been in New Zealand he had heard a surprising amount of talk about the dangers of a Japanese in-vasions-talk which tallied with what he had heard during his recently completed tour of Australia. Mr. Schuman himself, speaking from his observation of events and trends during many years' residence in Java, said he believed that Japan could not see in New Zealand a sufficient immediate advantage to warrant the expense! and hazards of an invasion. The factor of distance, he considered, was allimportant and any Japanese thrust towards this region would have to bo made over enormous lines ■of communication. Rich Prize. But, said Mr. Schuman, Japan's relationship to the Dutch East Indies was an entirely different thing. Occupation of the Dutch East Indies offered Japan a prospect in which there was everything to gain. Tea, sugar, oil and numerous other raw materials, which Japan needed acutely, could be supplied by the Sumatra and Javanese archipelagos. Time, however, was not important to Japan. Unlike Germany. Japan could wait. In fact, it did not matter to Japan whether she began to invade the Dutch East Indies in 1040 or 1960. The Netherlands East Indies trade with Japan, formerly of* great volume and value, had dropped away seriously since the outbreak of war in Europe, said Mr. Schuman. To-day it was at a minimum. "I am not divulging any military secrets when I say that Java is well prepared for any military eventuality. The Dutch East Indies have a small but excellent army, and the islands are well defended." Effective Defence. The defence of the archipelagos was, of course, a difficult military problem, but Japanese warships entering any of the harbours, especially those attached to the oil wells, would get a warm reception, he added. The oil harbours of Java, for instance, were surrounded by low hill«, on the sides of which the oil storage tanks were situated. In the event of any invader attempting a landing an immense plan could be. put into operation whereby thousands of tons of oil would be poured on the water of the harbour and ignited. Mr. Schuman revealed that Germany has no monopoly of fifth column operations. Japan, he said, had its fi.'Ui column in the East Indies and on remarkably similar lines to that of Germany in European countries. Japanese had been filtering into Java for many years, ostensibly as fruit and produce merchants. Their numbers even now, however, were not sufficient to cause any alarm, and the Dutch Army and police force had been thoroughly alert to the danger, and especially to the activities of Javanese natives who were sent to Tokyo hy the Japanese to be politically educated on the "Asia for Asiatics" principle, and returned to Java itself to become silent partners of Japan.