RETURN OF GERMAN COLONIES

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22307, 22 January 1938, Page 12

RETURN OF GERMAN COLONIES

Britain's Strength in the East POSSIBLE SOLUTION OF JAPANESE MENACE A suggestion that it would be a stroke of good policy for Great Britain to return some of the colonies that were taken from Germany after the Great War, to strengthen Britain's position in the Dutch East Indies, was made in an interview yesterday by Mr C. S. Thomas, of Christchurch, who has returned after a two months' tour of the East. Mr Thomas, who was accompanied by his wife and two daughters, returned to New Zealand by the Swartenhondt, arriving in Auckland last Friday. Discussing Groat Britain's strength in the East, Mr Thomas claimed that if the German colonies were returned Germany would then have an interest with Great Britain in holding back the Japanese. At the present time Germany had no such interest, and was always a potential danger to Great Britain's power if she should decide to make war in the East. "As far as I can see, neither the Dutch nor any other nationals interested in the East Indies, felt that there was any real call upon them to combine with Great Britain in fighting the common menace.

"The trip to Singapore is a most interesting one," Mr Thomas said. "I found that the burning question is the Japanese menace; wherever one went one heard the problem being discussed. The Dutch, who hold by far the largest possessions in the East Indies, are satisfied that the Japanese will make a move in the near future." The Dutch did not worry, however, because although they admitted that they were a small people and unable to protect their possessions, they had much faith in the power of Great Britain. They seemed astonished that Great Britain did not move some two or three years ago.

The Dutch possessions in the East Indies had teeming populations, while the possessions of other countries were sparsely populated. He thought that a readjustment of national boundaries in this area might go a long way to settle the European and Eastern questions. In New Guinea there were h-undreds of thousands of acres almost absolutely bare of people. "The general feeiing as I found it in the present war between Japan and China was in favour of the Chinese," he said. "There is undoubtedly a trade boycott against the Japanese in the towns I visited. The general impression gained was that the Japanese had not enhanced their reputation as a fighting nation as a result of the present war. Whatever the result may be, one felt that the war is going to cost the Japanese a great amount materially and in other ways."