MUCH EXAGGERATED

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 186, 4 May 1937, Page 9

MUCH EXAGGERATED

Australia’s Anxiety About Japanese Policy London, April 21. “We do not regard Japan, directly or even indirectly, as an Australian problem. Our anxieties regarding Japan’s future policy are tremendously exaggerated in Britain,” declared the Australian Commonwealth Treasurer, Mr. R. G. Casey, addressing a distinguished gathering at the Institute of International Affairs. “The Commonwealth believes it can and will continue to live on completely friendly terms with Japan,” he added. Referring to Australia’s greatest disabilities, remoteness and lack of personal contact with other races, Mr. Casey said it was extremely difficult for the Commonwealth to appreciate the reality and gravity of Europe's recurring political crises. Nevertheless, foreigners misleadingly referred to Australia as a dog in the manger. They compared the Commonwealth’s land surface and relative population vis-a-vis other countries. Such comparisons were meaningless, because the greater part of Australia could not carry more population until scientific knowledge and expenditure enabled it to be slowly developed.• Mr. Casey said that Australians had an ingrained feeling that the United States and the Empire should cooperate for world peace. Only Britain could unlock (the unused moral power for good which the United States had.