GOING TO JAPAN

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 146, 18 December 1933, Page 8

GOING TO JAPAN

AUSTRALIAN MISSION

WELCOME ASSURED

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, December 7. . Great interest has been aroused by the announcement that the Australian Government proposes to send a mission to the East, particularly to Japan, for the purpose of establishing better diplomatic relations and to encourage trade. Really it would be a mission of goodwill and friendship, although the exact nature of the delegation has not yet been determined. As a matter of fact the proposal has not yet been considered by the Cabinet, but it has been discussed among the Ministers, and the suggestion was made that the Federal Attorney-General (Mr. Latham) should be in charge. Mr. Latham may find it impossible to travel to the East, and in that event there is a possibility that the Prime Minister himself will go. Mr. Lyons said that the matter Of promoting friendly relations ~ with neighbouring countries was one which had given his Government some concern. "Conditions today are very different from those which obtained even a few years ago," he said, "and profoundly different from the state of affairs before the war. Trade channels have become restricted and have altered their direction. International relations generally are more important than they havo ever been before. It is a strange thing that no official visit has ever been paid by Australia to the countries of any of her near neighbours. I have had in mind some time the question of the practicability of a Minister from Australia visiting the Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Japan, and China, upon a mission of friendship and goodwill as distinct from a trade mission. Matters affecting trade can be dealt with separately, and, indeed, are being dealt with by negotiation between the Minister for Customs (with the assistance? of the Minister for Commerce), aud the consuls representing the various countries concerned. The matter will be considered by the Cabinet after the Parliament has risen." Unofficial assurances have reached the Commonwealth Government from important Japanese officials and residents that a diplomatic mission from Australia to Japan would be very welcome. It is stated that an Australian Minister visiting Japan would be received with official and popular enthusiasm, and that he would bo given what would amount to a semi-Royal reception. Tentative plans are already being made in Japan to map out a programme for the Australian visitor. They will be completed before Christmas in the expectation that the mission would leave Australia immediately after the Christmas holidays. There is a.possibility that one or more influential Japanese resident in Australia will accompany the mission*