NEW EMPIRE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 34, 10 February 1943, Page 3

NEW EMPIRE

JAP. EXPLOITATION "As Much A Drain On War As A Support For It" N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent Rec. 11.30 a.m. LONDON, Feb. 9. "The Japanese are not. as the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. Curtin, suggests, settling down to vast exploitation of their new Empire," comments the London journal The Economist, referring to Mr. Curtin's recent comment that Japan was buying cheaply the time she needs to exploit the resources she has acquired and prepare for an onslaught which the United Nations will find it costly to outfight.

The Economist adds that the process of the development of these new resources is as much a drain on Japan's war effort as a support for it. "This does not mean," the journal adds, "that the blows they will strike will not be formidable or that they have by any means shot their bolt. They are not consolidating their Empire, but they are not fighting much either, and their reserves of military equipment are accumulating. Japan is a military menace, whether or not. Nanyo (the Japanese name for the South Sea area) is developing according to plan. Mr. Curtin's Reminder

"Mr. Cur tin is right," the journal adds, "to remind the Allies how entrenched Japan's position is becoming and how undisturbed is its military force."

Referring to the programme for building up a supply area for Japanese industry, The Economist states that it involves a number of contradictions which the Japanese show little sign of resolving. The Japanese Government is determined to maintain its programme of self-sufficiency in food in Japan, which strictly limits the amount of extra industrialisation. It also penalises producers of food surpluses in the new supply area—Siam, Burma, and Indo-China. "Yet without further industrialisation," the journal proceeds, "the Japanese cannot possibly maintain their war effort and organise a new empire. All plans require equipment, machinery and expert control. In the past Britain, the United States and Holland have provided these. They have even sent these to Japan, who up to the time of the war was a large importer of manufactured products. All this has gone and Japan has only its industrial system left to make good the deficit. Japanese industry cannot meet the need. " •

"If Shipping Is Available" "For months Siam has been pressing for manufactured goods in return for raw materials. The Japanese paid in blocked yen. The lack of shipping, if anything, is more serious than the lack of capital and technicians. The new empire is an empire of islands. Everything must be waterborne." The Economist adds that the clause: "If shipping is available," applies to every trade agreement throughout the Japanese empire.