THE PACIFIC ISLANDS

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 15 November 1918, Page 1

THE PACIFIC ISLANDS

NEW MONROE DOCTRINE SUGGESTED. An old rc&ident of Masterton, who has tor the past two years lived in America, ■ writes au interesting letter to a Wellington gentleman on the subject of the- ' Hands Round the Pacific Club.' Iu the letter, which was handed for publication to the "Post,' tho writer says: " I not- been long in this country boforo I realised, to my great surprise, that public opinion was gtnei'allv anti-English. Colonials were well thought of, and th<. Scotch and Irith pretty good, but the English to many were simply contemptible It was this strong public opinion that kept tho United States out of the war so long,- The idea of assisting that gre-edy country Englum' (which already owned about halt the world: to soize Germany's few colonies did not go at all x with Americans, and, of course, -the Germans and Hearst element played .iu this for ail it was worth. If a referendum had been taken I doubt if the United States would have been in the war to-day. As soon as the United States declared war, the}- put the damper on this proGerman propaganda, and aiso sent lecturers to all centres of population to tell the people tho real truth. By the paper I am sending you will see they are st;il exposing proGerman -and Hearst intrigues. This German propaganda had been going on for years, well seconded by the Irish, with the ideaof keeping a wide gulf between the AngloBritish and Anglo-American. But that is all past, and Britisher and Yankee aro brothers once more, and it is the duty of all of us to do- our best to help cementthis good fooling, and, above all things, bo sure not to do anything that our enemies can seize on and make capital out of. "'lf these papers here reported Mr Massey's speech correctly, he is advocating that Great Britain should yncex Germany's conquered colcnies in the Pacific This would be . a mo6t serious blunder, as our enemies would immediately point- out Britaiu's greedy nature, and American public opinion, which at- present is strongly in our favor, would receive a damper. Mr Hughes, of Australia, advocates an ' Australian Monroe Doctrine' for tho Southern Pacific. A Monroe Doctrine is but a ' scrap of paper' unless it- is backed up by force, but it. would be Jui[>ossible tc-r Australasia to keep up a force that could successfully hold its own againstJ span, for instance. I have beeu contending all along that Great Britain, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand should all join hands, and establish a ' Monroe Doctrine' over the captured German colonies in tho Pacific, and also, say, any other islands that are not protected. Adopt some mode of controlling these colonies or groups of islands for a few veaw until thr>y become sufficiently enlight ei-.ed to manage their own affairs, and then give them self-government, and allow them to. work out their own salvation; hut take pcrt-ieular care that no outside Power was permitted to establish any kind of a station that could be used for military of navai purposes. . . "With the United Stateg, Great Britain. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in a partnership concern,' British influence and voting power would be overwhelming; but I do not- think public opinion in the United States would oft'er any objf-ctious to this state of affairs, us they would realise tnat the chief interest was centred in the Southera Pacific. An arrangement of this kir.-d would be absolute proof that Great Britain was not such a ' grab-all' as she has been icsdo out to be. It would divide up the policy of the Pacific between several countries." and thus save expsuse to any oue country. It would also draw tosrethvr and cement the friendship of the Enghsh-speak-iucr countries. This would foe couduci\e t<* tti peace of the world, eg no country w-.ul 1 care to risk a. with "the Knijli-sh-spo.l .v 1.• people of the world all combined-'