IRON ORE BAN

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 128, 2 June 1938, Page 8

IRON ORE BAN

PROTEST BY JAPAN

THE ACTION OF AUSTRALIA

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, May 27.

Although the Commonwealth Government v/ill formally consider Japan's protest against the Australian ban on the export of iron ore, there is no likelihood that the Ministry will modify its policy.

Japan is concerned not only because she loses a source of supply of ore, but also because she is financially interested in the exploitation of huge deposits at Yampi Sound, Western Australia. The, Japanese protest, officially made by the Consul-General, Mr. Wakamatsu, regretted the Australian ban because Japan was the principal market for Australian ore and because of the "enormous Japanese investments in the mining world at Yampi Sound." and added that it could only be inferred that, practically, this drastic measure was aimed principally at Japan. "The safety of Japanese interests connected with the Yampi Sound enterprise," the protest stated, "is a question of such gravity that it cannot be solved simply by reimbursement of the investments, and the Japanese Government cannot understand why the Commonwealth Government, despite their former assurances on several occasions, have decided to adopt such a hasty and drastic measure, without any domestic emergency having arisen to justify the subversion of the development work at Yampi Sound. . . . The iron ore deposits which are capable of economical development cannot be definitely determined, as their capability iii that respect depends upon both the improvement of productive technique and conditions of demand. Eloquent evidence of this is the fact that the iron ore deposits at Yampi Sound were left undeveloped for a long period of time until Japanese industrialists undertook to invest capital in the developmental work, which seemed to be for them an economical enter-1 prise. It is inequitable and unreasonable that the Japanese investors should j be deprived of the fruits of their fore-1 sightcdness and of their outlay on the! eve of the completion of their strenu-j ous preliminary work. . I "The Japanese Government is firmly . convinced that it is justified—particu-1 larly as it does not appear that any I thorough and practical investigation | has yet been made which furnishes the | peoples of both Australia and Japan, with concrete evidence of the realities I of the situation—in requesting the Commonwealth Government to reconsider its decision, in the interests of the maintenance of friendly relations between the two countries, and also in the light of the significance of freedom of trade, especially of free access to resources, the necessity of which has not only been recognised by most of the countries in the world, but which has also been earnestly urged by cer- i tain Powers as a practical means of |. achieving appeasement in the world." •