A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 60, 4 December 1937, Page 9

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Japanese Mandates Japanese spokesmen have announced that Japan will not give up the mandated territories in the Pacific. The Japanese mandated territories of the Pacific consist of some 1400 islands and reefs scattered over a vast expanse of sea, between the equator and Japan. The most northerly of these islands lies 1200 miles due south of Yokohama, the most westerly is 500 miles from Davao in the Philippines and 060 miles from Menado in the Celebes, while well away to the east at a distance of 2000 miles lies Hawaii. To the south there is nothing of real importance until Australia is reached at a distance of 1800 miles. The archipelagos which make up the mandated islands are known as the Marianas, the Carolines (East and West), and the Marshalls, all of which (with the Gilberts) come under the general heading of Micronesia. Although there are 1400 Islands, the entire land area does not exceed 1500 square miles. Moreover, some of these islands are uninhabited reefs. The total population is about 80,000, of whom 29,000 are Japanese. Japan has made use of every acre of available land on two of the main islands, Saipan and Tinian, and planted great quantities of sugar. The Japanese are also endeavouring to develop the market-garden industry in the Marianas. Up to 1922 communication with the mandated territories was controlled by the Japanese Imperial Navy, after which the Nippon Yusen Kaisha, subsidised by the South Sea Government, undertook the service.

The central Government has its headquarters at Korror, a small island in the West Carolines. It has frequently been suggested that the Japanese are fortifying some of the islands contrary to the conditions under which they hold them. This they have neither denied nor affirmed. Manchukuo It is officially announced that Italy has recognised Manchukuo as a sovereign State and has decided to establish a legation there. Manchukuo, formerly Manchuria, and an integral part of China, has an area of 460,383 square miles, and a population of about 30,000,000. The capital is Hsinking (formerly Changchun). Other important towns are Mukden, Harbin, Penhsifu, Kaiyuan and Fushun. All these have populations ranging from 300,000 to over 400,000. The Emperor is I’u Yi (born February, 1906), enthroned on March 1, 1934. Manchukuo was proclaimed an independent nation on February 18, 1932, by a Chinese North-eastern Executive Council, and came into official existence on March 1, at Mukden. Behind every key position in the Government stands a Japanese adviser; their number exceeds 600. The Constitution provides for a Cabinet, or State Council, an advisory Senate and a Legislative Council.

Japan has been credited from authoritative sources with having spent over £60,000,000 for maintenance of armed forces and suppression of banditry in Manchukuo and the adjacent Chinese provinces from 1931 to June, 1936.

Behind the setting up of Manchukuo was the Japanese military action begun on September IS, 1931, when the tearing up Of a portion of the South Manchuria railway near Mukden set in motion what the Japanese called defensive operations, aimed at Chinese soldiers and bandits in the railway zone. Japan appealed to the League of Nations, and a Commission of the League, after investigating the position on the spot, held Japan wholly responsible. Japan resigned from the League. Manchukuo remains as a puppet State of Japan. Manchukuo, the Manchu State, is the former north-eastern portion of China bounded by Siberia, the Amur River, Korea, the Yellow Sea, and China proper, and Mongolia. The soil of Manchuria is among the richest in the world, and there are large quantities of coal and other valuable minerals. The soya bean is an important product.

Raw Materials Lord Swinton, speaking on the accessibility of nations to raw materials, and rejecting Germany’s colonies argument, said British colonial markets were open to all on equal terms, at a price paid in a stable currency. Lord Swinton was merely reiterating remarks made by Sir Samuel Hoare, when Foreign Secretary, at Geneva on September 11, 1935. Said Sir Samuel: “Abundant supplies of raw materials appear to give a peculiar advantage to the countries possessing them. It is easy to exaggerate the decisive character of such an advantage, for there are countries which, having little or no natural abundance, have yet made themselves prosperous and powerful by industry and trade. “Yet the fact remains that some countries, either in their native soil or in their colonial territories, do possess what appears to be preponderant advantages ; and that others, less favoured, view the situation with anxiety. “Especially as regards colonial raw materials, it is not unnatural that such a state of affairs should give rise to fear lest exclusive monopolies be set up at the expense of those countries that do not possess colonial empires. It is clear that in the view of many it is a real problem. And we should be foolish to ignore it.

“It may be that it is exaggerated. It may be, also, that it is exploited for other purposes. . . . The view of His Majesty’s Government is that the problem i 6 economic rather than political and territorial. It is the fear of monopoly—of the withholding of essential colonial raw materials —that is causing alarm. . . . My impression is that there is no question in present circumstances of any colony withholding its raw materials from any prospective purchaser. On the contrary, the trouble is that they cannot be sold at remunerative prices.”

Sir Samuel Hoare concluded with an offer that so far as Great Britain was concerned she would assist in an investigation for the freer distribution of raw materials. Leicester

Leicester, where the New Zealand High Commissioner, Mr. W. J. Jordan, has inaugurated a New Zealand dairy sales campaign, stands on the Soar. 25 miles from Nottingham and 99 miles from London. It is served by important railways and canals. The staple industries are the manufacture of hosiery, boots and shoes, the making of cotton, elastic web goods, and other textiles: also various kinds of machinery, bricks and the dying of textiles.

Leicester owes its foundation to the Romans, and in Anglo-Saxon days it was a considerable town. In postNorman days its prosperity was mainly due to the wool industry. The population is about 300,000.