PACIFIC DANGERS

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3614, 18 November 1924, Page 2

PACIFIC DANGERS

| NEED FOR SINGAPORE BASE. Possibilities of danger in the Pacific are considered by Mr F. A. W. Gisborne, of lasmania, in the ‘ National Review,’ Enlightened public opinion in Australia, he says,_ received a severe shock from the decision of the Ramsay Mac Donald Labor Ministry not to proceed with an earlier Ministry’s project of constructing a firstclass naval base at Singapore. The Singapore question in relation to Great Britain is mainly one of material interest. Staggering as would be the blow to her commerce and prestige were she in time of war to lose the command of the waters adjacent to southern and eastern Asia, it would not necessarily be fatal to her. To Australia and New Zealand, situated far remote from the nearest country containing a large white population, and lying at the very feet of the continent which is the stronghold of the most civilised and powerful colored races, such a calamity might mean conquest and subjugation. Australia’s danger zone, the tropical portion of the continent embracing 1,150,000 square miles, lies nearest to the most populous regions of Asia, and according to the last census results is now occupied by only 190,862 persons in all. Of this puny white garrison 181,397 people live in North Queensland alone, and nearly all are to be found scattered along the narrow ribbon of coastal territory extending from Rockhampton to Cairns. The entire white 7 population of the Northern Territory is still only 2,774, and that of the tropical division of Western Australia 5,691. Less than 10,000 whites, therefore, nominally occupy some 800,000 square miles of country, a considerable portion of which is capable of supporting a dense population. It may be doubted whether even the resounding shouts of “ White Australia ” perpetually heard from the politicians of Melbourne and Sydney far away suffice to convince the Asiatic, condemned to a merciless struggle for bare existence, that Australia must always be to him a forbidden land. The ‘ ‘ White Australia ” doctrine is essentially provocative, and constitutes a distinct challenge to Asia. If it is to be maintained this can only be done by force, and force can only be exercised by an adequate population equipped with adequate means of defence. “ WANT OF EFFECTIVE OCCUPATION.” Not many years ago (continues Mr Gisborne) a British Government compelled Portugal to surrender a considerable amount of territory in South-east Africa on the ground of want of effective occupation. Can a region of over 500,000 square miles in extent be regarded as effectively occupied when it contains altogether less than 4,000 representatives of its nominal proprietors? And could a British Government, aware of the precedent established by the late Lord Salisbury, consistently oppose any claim put forward by Japan to annex and colonise such portions of Australia as are now practically empty ? This question is, of course, purely hypothetical. But an unfortunate incident connected with the unauthorised landing of seven Japanese on the coast of Queensland, which synchronised with the late visit of a Japanese squadron to Australia, might conceivably, if repeated, elicit from the Government of Japan rather embarrassing representations. Plain facts demand the use of plain language. All the world knows that China and Japan are already overcrowded countries, large numbers of whose inhabitants live in chronic fear of starvation. Australia, almost empty, lies near at hand. Population, like air, has a natural tendency to flow from regions of high pressure to those of low pressure. Only the strongest natural or artificial barriers can pi-event such movements. So far, the British Navy has been the chief barrier between Asia and Australia. But now, while the population pressure has greatly increased in the first-mentioned continent, the restraints which hitherto have checked Asiatic migration southwards have been gravely weakened. Within a quite recent period the balance of naval power in the Pacific has been fundamentally altered, to the detriment of British interests and Australian security. NAVIES COMPARED. When we remember, adds Mr Gisborne, that tile British Navy has widely-dispersed territories and trade routes to guard, besides the shores of Great Britain herself; that the American fleet is divided between two oceans, speedy communication between which depends entirely on a single artificial waterway, liable at any time to be obstructed by naval or aerial attack, and moreover 1 , according to recent disclosures, suffers from serious deficiencies of equipment; while, on the other hand, the entire Japanese fleet is concentrated in one ocean, and has to protect but a single front, there seems to be good reason to regard Japan now as the dominant power in the Pacific. In such circumstances, bearing in mind that the Anglo-Japanese Alliance is now at an end, the absolute necessity that the British naval force operating in Far Eastern waters should possess a base commanding the approaches to Australia and New Zealand to the south, and India to the west, seems indisputable. To shirk the duly of providing it on the ground that its construction would be displeasing to Japan or any other nation is mere craven folly, and such foolish displays of sentimentalism invariably tend to hasten war rather than prevent it. Mr Lothrop Stoddard, in his most suggestive work, ‘The Rising Tide of Color,’ comments on the “curious irony” of the humanitarian movement, now so popular in certain circles in Europe and America, whose aim is to teach the Oriental peoples those hygienic precautions for preventing the ravages of disease which, if generally practised, would mean a marked acceleration of the increase of the already excessive populations of India, China, and other overcrowded countries. Such teachings, it is held, are dangerous, and may ultimately recoil with disastrous effects on the heads of the teachers. . RUSSIA’S FATE RECALLED. The epoch-making struggle for supremacy in the East between Russia and Japan twenty years ago marked the beginning of the revolt of the yellow races against tho domination of the white. When that conflict began few Europeans foresaw the discomfiture of their champion. The next similar collision, says Mr Gisborne, will probably be between Japan and the United States, and it is possible then that the white world will receive as many shocks as it did during the fateful period 1904-05, when the Russian and the Japanese armies grappled in combat on tho plains of Manchuria. For in naval and military organisation Japan enjoys a marked superiority over her great rival across the Pacific. She occupies an im pregnable strategic position. Any Amcri can armada sent to assail her would un questionably, even if it succeeded in reaching Asiatic waters, suffer tho fate of that commanded by the ill-starred Rojdestvensky on May 14, 1905. The population ol Japan is homogeneous, intensely patriotic and inspired by that spirit of active fatal ism which is the most potent of all martial qualities. Tho country lias neither a hostile Mexico just outside its borders nor millions of half-savage aliens within them.

[Thai Japan could succeed, unaided, in inflicting a decisive defeat on the United States fortunately seems inconceivable, but it is quite possible that by the exercise of combined naval and economic pressure, she might compel the great American Republic to sign a treaty granting concessions which would materially assist the advancement of the yellow races. In any case, the terms of the treaty finally concluded would be of the gravest importance to the British Empire, and might vitally affect the future of Australia. GRAVE NEED FOR PREPARATION. If, for instance, by the relaxation of the Monroe Doctrine the scantily-peopled and backward countries of tropical South America were thrown open to Asiatic immigrants, the diversion of the yellow overflow eastwards would probably mean the postponement for some years of any attempt to invade Australia. During the interval of grace the latter country, if wise, would employ every effort to strengthen her defences and fill her empty spaces, especially those which are now most exposed to attack. Concurrently, it may be hoped, Great Britain, under the guidance of statesmen rather than visionaries, would complete the Singapore project, and in concert with the dominions develop an Imperial fleet strong enough to protect the territories and maritime highways of the Empire. The work of political organisation, too, should be undertaken and a supreme council constituted so that the Empire might think with one mind, speak with one voice, and strike if necessary with one sword. For purposes of war and preparation for it the concentration of authority is indispensable. Until this be achieved every part of the Empire will be in danger; and Australia, liable at any time to be cut off from the Mother Country and the sister dominions, and thrown entirely on her own resources, will be in the most perilous position of all.