EVERYWHERE THE ASIATIC.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15023, 18 July 1914, Page 16

EVERYWHERE THE ASIATIC.

PRAISE FOR MR MASSET. TACTLESS, BUT STRAIGHT. tTBOK OTJB OWV COKBESPOITOISXT.I LONDON, June 12. It can no longer bo eaid that that portion of tho British rres3 whoso influence counts for anything, is ignorant of tho reality of the Asiatic question as it affects the British Dominions. Only a year or two ago tho oDjoctions of tuo Dominions to allow Asiatics to flood their society was frankly regarded here as a dog-in-the-manger policy deserving of censure. Thanks largely to Sir lan .Hamilton's outspoken remarks, tu© newspapers that matter shafe tho view of "Tho Times" which thus discusses Mr Massey s rocent speech :— "If Mr Massey had wanted to evade tho issue, it would, we imagine, have been easy i'or him to disclaim, responsibility for anything said by Sic lan Hamilton, an Imperial omcer, whose business in Now Zealand was to inspect and report on the Defence Force. Mr Massey condescended to no such evasion. ,Ho said bluntly teat ho would not remain for a moment a member of a Government which did anything of tho sort. On the contrary he implied that tho New Zealand Defence Act had for its motive the fear .of Asiatic attack, and capped this essentially undiplomatic admission by a statement that he hoped next session to pass legislation prohibiting the entrance of Hindus into New Zealand. "Homo-keeping Englishmen may be surprised at what may well seem to them a tactless and aggressive statement of the views held, by a Colonial politician on w> delicate an issue. Deprecating murmurs would most probably greet such-a declaration made t>y a member of the Imneriai Cabinet anywhere within the British Isles. Yet sentiments of tho kind expressed by -«-r Massey are approved by a very largo majority of the oversea peoples. * They have made their homos iv countries which attract ,tho Asiatic immigrant. In some cases, admittedly, they have themselves created this attraction by the use of indentured Asiatic labour. But they hold with a tenacity characteristic of their race that Asiatic immigration on a largo scale is likely to be an obstacle to progress on British line*. This conviction is at the root of their opposition to the influx of Asiatics. It is no* merely a soltish opposition. At tho same tirno they ;iro acutely conscious that it involves" grave Imperial difficulties. "It is essential that wo in this country should not bo lacking in appreciation of what may be called the , Dominion point of view. The day of a final settlement of the Asiatic difficulty as it touches the Dominions is not yet. Till it comes the oversea peoples must not be allowed to donbt that they are secure in the mastery of their own houses."