The Star. MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 1904. GREAT BRITAIN IN THE FAR EAST.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 7870, 4 January 1904, Page 2

The Star.

MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 1904. GREAT BRITAIN IN THE FAR EAST.

Detlverod pv or > evomnK b> a o'clock tv Hawera Olitniuu., Nanuoiiby, Okaiawa, KJthom, Aliiu.naujki. K.tpouga, Awatona, Ouuu&ke,' Ocatebj, MuiißtutH, Altou, BurlejTille, PiiiCß. and WnvMrUy.

Though the ships of Gresit Britain are gathering, few think' that anything but minatory action is meant. In vieyr, however, of Dr Morrison, The Times correspondent's warning, that Russia will most certainly attack China, it is. well to remember what our country's real position is. By the Anglo-Japanese treaty, « when Japan's interests are attacked it is £he duty of Britain to preserve a strict neutrality and use its efiprts to prevent" other P,6wers frpm joining in hostilities, against her ally, The one Power which , Jias an cutanglinjnr alliance, besides purselves, is' France, and consequently it is that nation which it is Britain's duty more especially tp placate and* prevent "joining Russia. We have done much to seal our friendship with France lately, and greatly to France's commercial advantage. It is probably true that, as the St Petersburg papers say, both the great Anglo-Saxon nations have given Japan moral support and encouraged her up to the present. And that is quite natural. Japan's are the largest interests really atta'ckecl by Russia, and a firm front may bid Russia pause before both Britain and America see that their interests are also attacked. But Russia counts largely on the I Angle-Saxon horror of war, and calculates that ii she makes it plain that China will be attacked inevitably drawn into the Britain will for fear of persuade cables

knowing what may happen. "In spite of semi-official utterances and optimistic writers, who persistently ignore the crucial question of when and where a limit is to be assigned to Russia's Asiatic pretentions, it is impossible to burke the fact that a point has been reached' at which force is becoming an imminent alternative to diplomacy in the politics of the Far East." At present Britain to Russia is polite ; she merely intimates that she thinks Japan has justice on her side. But Kipling in his new book applies the danger under that attitude to a minor occasion :—: — "Build on the flanks of Etna where the sullen smoke-puffs float — , Or bathe in tiopic waters where the lean fin dogs the boat — Cock the gun that is not loaded, cook the frozen dynamite — But oh! beware, my country, when my country grows polite!" As matters are • shaping themselves the present generation may witness a Far Eastern Crimea. But in view of the fact that the strain of the Transvaal war is still felt, and that the inevitable aftermath of war, distress among the industrial population, is just now very acute, it" may be accepted that British statesmen will make every possible effort to avert the threatened trouble.