FROM THE FAR EAST

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 275, 14 August 1920, Page 8

FROM THE FAR EAST

4 AMERICAN RULE IN THE PHILIPPINES

ISLAND GROUP WITH A

FUTURE

POLITICAL QUIET IN JAPAN

Mr. 1 Shftiler Weston, of Wellington, has just returned from a most interest. Sfif f Ur M° f ™ e -v wMch Glided a visit to the Philippines. v We ?J°" foun<l in th e Philippines much matter for surprise, as well as ™ r admiration. 'Die country is the first that has been given a colonial administration by the United States of America. One thing which struck him as remarkable was the elasticity—ho might almost say softness—of tho American administration. Under such benevolent rule tho country appeared to be prospering in i manner that was evidently impossible under the old Spanish rule. The Filipinos had a much higher culture and far moro intelligence than thei outside world ; credited them with as a general rule. They showed a curious aptitude for assimilating the -civilisation that American control had introduced. The Chief Justice of the group was a full-blooded Filipino, and there'was a Filipino Legislative Council, which fieemed to bo fulfilling its duties quite satisfactorily. Mr. Weston was rather surprised to ascertain that certain elements in the islands still desired complete independence. In that, as far as he was able to judge, they were ill-advised, for without the protection of tble United States, the group might very easily become the prey of some other nation, which might not givo the natives the freftlom and scope they enjoy at present. Since tho American occupation, which dates back some thirtv years, great improvements have been made to the harbour of Manila, while the city itself Ims almost been rebuilt. The country was extraordinarily rich, but needed, like all primitive countries, a large amount of capital to develop its resources. That capital was not coming in from America so fast as one would cxpect,_ and the fact appeared Tather strange, as in the Philippines there did not Mem to exist the labour problems that were puzzling the rest of the. world.

Ono outstanding testimony to the benefits of American rule was the fact that ttoe native population had increased by a greater ratio since the Americans took hold than was the case before. There were a good many Japanese in the group, yet the country was not nearly fully occupied. The fad that tho. islands were only a few hundred miles south of Formosa doubtless made the. Philippines a temptation to congested Japan, and it certainly did strike one as curious that so rich and beautiful a country should bo so sparsely populated. Much open-ing-up work still remained to be done in some of. this islands. For example, it was learned at . Lamboanga, the principal town on the 1 island of Minidao (the second largest island in the group), that there ivas one road only miming twenty miles north and south. Apart from that, there were no roads or- means of communication save by boat along the coast, and that means had to be used by the plnnt'TS in visiting different parts of the island which they were interested in. Mr. Weston thought that there should be a good market for Australian mutton and butter at Manila, and that such trade would develop naturally if it: were not for the American tariff, which was the same at Manila ns it was at Snn Francisco or New York. He dined with' some people at Manila who were in a state of delight at having received a forequarter of Australian mutton to vary the. local fare.

Japan struck Mr. Weston as a very powerful and ambitious nation—a power to be considered in the future and never to be taken lightly. The ideas the Press of the outside world had got that there was grave political disruption in the land of the Mikado were, as far as his observations went, entirely without foundation. Indeed, it struck him that from a political standpoint, Japan was very peaceable, and solidly loyal. When he ' was at Kobe the general elections were in progress, but they were conducted without clamour or excitement: indeed, unless the visitor had been told, he would not have known that an election was in progress. One of the issues before the country when Mr. Weston was there was universal suffrage. So even in the land of the chrysanthemum women are asserting their rights in matters concerning the government of tbio country.