OUR ALLY, JAPAN

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15313, 29 July 1915, Page 10

OUR ALLY, JAPAN

HOW SHE IS HELPING. SOME INTERESTING FACTS. A well-known Chn«.t church citizen, wlio has just returned irom a trip to Japan—a country that lie knows very we.li —gave a ''Press reporter toiuo interesting information about the Japanese, their attitude towards the war. and what they are -deing to help the Allies win the war. "When 1 got to Honolulu." he said. •■{ was lucky to connect, with the Tenyo Main from San Francisco ior Japan, and so I got to Japan from Auckland in twenty-ore days, which is aiiout as fast as it can he done. This Japanese- boat. I noticed, was exceedingly heavily laden, and -o !ow jjj the water that 1 had <M>me doubts as to her safety. When on board I ua- cl.attinir with tho captain. and I said to him, ; 1 suppose you iiave plenty oi ammunition from the States ior Russia ,ehP' and he answered -No, no ammunition." Ou the fame boat was a high Japanese official, whom 1 knew previously, returning from tho Panama Exhibition, and later on he told mc thai the captain had orders to jiivo the answer he did to enquiries, luit a.s a matter ol" fact- the boat wa.* laden with cotton and ammunition tor Russia, and that the cargo would lie transferred at Kobe for either Harbin or Vladivoatock. EAGER FOR BUSINESS. "The Tenyo Main had between 50 and 60 Japanese business men on board, who had all been over to America striving their utmost to get the business that the Germans and Austrians could not now do. The Japanese had' been enormously successful, and were coming back with their pockets full of orders. There is no doubt at all that the Japs are making feverish efforts now to get- business and, open markets for themselves, and tbey have done very well in Australia, and to a smaller extent in New Zealand. In the boat in which I returned from Japan to Australia the hold.s were absolutely full of Japanese goods for Australia and New Zealand. The saloon and all the empty cabins wove packed with 200 tons of tea from Hong Kong for which room could not be found below, but the rest of thc ship was all ! full of Japanese exports. HELPING RUSSIA. "Now, with regard to the war: both my highly-placed Japanese friend— whose name unfortunately I am not at j liberty to divulge—and a Japaneso i naval man, told mc that there was no Icar of Russia getting cold feet' and concluding a peace on her own account. Russia lias completed an ammunition contract with the States, for three years, from January, 1910, and with Japan for two years from tho same date, also for ammunition and j munitions of all descriptions. By March .list, 1010. Japan had sent no ; less than sixty million yens' worth, or ! £6,000,000 worth, of ammunition to'] Russia. Cannon of the largest calibre had also»"been sent, with suitable and sufficient ammunition, and corhplete gun crews and engineers to work them. "Practically on the first appeal for small aims which Russia <?cnt to Japan, the latter sent 180.000 rifles in cases in one week. The Russian people were surprised to see that no ammunition came with the rifles, and on cabling Japan, received the answer 'Kindly open cases.' When the Russians did so. tbey found that the rifles were ail Russian ones which had been taken by the Japs in the last war. They had all been kept in first-rate condition, and! of course, it was not necessary to send ammunition, as the Russians were making plenty of that calibre. EXPLOSIVES AND BIG GUNS. "Though the Japs are making any amount of explosives for the Russians, yet I was told that none of the famous Shimosp powder was being sent out of the country, as the Japanese arc keeping this for themselves. I made enquiries with regard to the Japanese sending rifles to England, and my Japanese friend said none had been sent; on the other hand, another friend of mine who had been in Japan for thirty years said that rifles and ammunition had been sent. I asked whether the Japanese could fill an order for rifles and ammunition for tho Now Zealand Government if it gave one', and was told that the factories were all working day and night on Rnssiaii orders, and it was exceedingly unlikely that any other orders could be attended to. "With the exception of 200 or 300 doctors and some hundreds of nurses, there arc no Japanese actually with the Allies—barring the artillerists mentioned—but the doctors and nurses are doing excellent work. So many doctors have gone now that there is a shortage in Jaoan similar to what there is in New Zealand. AN OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK. "So far as I was able to learn, tho Japanese are not building any fighting ships or submarines for the Allies; their naval building programme seems to bo solely for their own use. but. of course, an outsider trying to find out information about Japanese naval matters soon finds himself up against a brick wall. I wax told on excellent authority that at the end of May theJapanese had begun to take the big guns—many of them quite new—out of their fortifications and were sending them with all speed to tbe Russian front, with supplies of ammunition and trained engineers. Whether these guns will get to the front in time to assist in the defence of Warsaw I could not say. but I know that transporting them is a rather slow business, and the big shells have to be handled most carefully one at a time. The Japanese consider Hint the Russians have put up a very fine performance, and that their organisation and equipment is very much better than during tbe Russo-Japanese war. "If we. had had to fight the Russia of to-day. then, we should have hceu hopelessly beaten' —so say the Japanese. Russia is invincible, and means to see the war through to the end. The Japanese all .think that thc war will last at least two years. They do not believe that fho Allied forces will succeed in battering a way to'"Berlin, but tbey believe in Lloyd-George's 'silver-bullet.' and think that in about two years or less there will b.> nn ;:!i----'olntc financial collapse in Germany; that is iv-hv they are ca keen to help Russia with the munitions she needs. I believe that Russia's determination is inflexible. She mean- t" keep going. Already large 6000 to 8000-ton fee-break-ers have been sent to Vladivostok to keep ihe port open .for transporting munitions, and ,i significant point also was the cargo oi the St. Albans—the boat I came back in—-this vessel was to take "2">00 tons of Australian lead to Vladivostock. and then back for two more such cargoes.'' ]