THE JAPANESE IN MANCHURIA.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20910, 18 July 1933, Page 10

THE JAPANESE IN MANCHURIA.

SEARCH FOR TRADE. ADDRESS BY iMR A. C. BRASSINGTON. Some interesting comments on the policy of Japan in Manchuria were made to members of the Accountant Students' Society by Mr A. C. Brassington at a meeting of the society last evening. Mr J. M. Preston presided. A curious thing about Japan was the accident of history that prevented her from becoming a colonising power, said Mr Brassington. In 1637 a law was passed stating that no Japanese was to leave the country under penalty of death; the only ships to be used were to carry not more than 25,000 bushels of rice; and only one ship was allowed to pay a visit from Holland each year. For 200 years these conditions obtained, and in this way the Japanese deprived themselves of a great outlet, and entered the field of colonisation late. Rapid Growth of Population. The population of Japan, he said, had been increasing greatly, the increase since 1914 being 10,000,000. There were two ways of dealing with this increase, by colonisation and by industrialisation. Japan had chosen the latter and most authorities agreed that at the moment Japan was not a colonising power. Japan had very little iron, coal, and oil, while in Manchuria were to be found deposits of these minerals, and Japanese merchants had turned to Manchuria. The population of Manchuria in 1929 was 30,000,000, composed chiefly of Chinese. The number of Japanese resident there was very small, about 97 per cent, of the population being Chinese. Each year, also, the Chinese had emigrated to Manchuria, 5,000,000 having left China since 1925. Although Japan was not a colonising power at the moment it might be different when Japan, having established herself in Manchuria, had become powerful. The big question at the moment, said Mr Brassington, was what was going to haopen to Jaoan itself. Some thought that the Japanese effort in Manchuria would exhaust her—that she was not r'-ong enough io finance the enormous undertaking she had embarked upon. Others considered that the Japanese Government had considered the position carefully and had not attempted more than it could do. If Japan had attempted something too big one might look for * social breakdown, but if she was capable of doing what she attempted one could look for increased Japanese power in Manchuria.