MANAWATU DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1919. "CONSIDERABLE ALARM."

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 14105, 3 May 1919, Page 4

MANAWATU DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1919. "CONSIDERABLE ALARM."

Sir James Allen is reported to have said at the annual meeting of the Navy League al Dunedin that ho view with “considerable alarm" the position in the Pacific, and that he “looked with a good deal of suspicion on the occupation of the Marshall Islands by the Japanese." He added that “he hoped Japan had no intention of spreading her wings over the Pacific, but ho feared there was a possibility of it." This is really very loose sort of talk for a responsible Minister to indulge in. The Japanese are our Allies, rightly or wrongly, and they have rendered the Empire, and Australasia in particular, special service daring the war. Without the Japanese fleet the German raiders would probably have played havoc with some our our towns and harbours, and if it bad not been for Japanese convoys, some of our transports would have been seriously delayed, and might never have reached their destinations. The Japanese are sitting at the Peace Conference as allies, and must be taken at their face value. It is unwise and it is dishonest on the part of a New Zealand Minister to question their bona-fidcs at this time. The delegates at the Peace Conference have declined to re*

cognise the racial equality of the Nipponese. That is a question of large policy which will be dealt with on a broad international basis. It has the endorsement of America, whose interests are largely effected by the. attempted incursion of the Japanese into California. But the Conference which has so far denied the Japanese racial equality has also acceoded to their claims to the Marshall Group. That may provide the super-jingoes with an alarmist catch-cry with which to appeal for big sea and air fleets, and provide an excuse for burdening Australasia with a huge expenditure for defence: but it is no excuse for maligning a race which has stood staunchly bv our Empire in a groat crisis, and which, so far as wo are concerned, has given no reason for doubting its staunchness to treaty undertakings. Suspicion and misunderstanding by ignorant and parochial persons is a fertile source of war. That, even more that a suppositions Japanese menace is likely to injure New Zealand's material interests at this time. If our political heads fear the Japanese menace so much as Sir James Allen says, then they will be well advised to obtain the additional security of an American mandatory over the Samoan group. But if underlying the whole thing—Admiral Jcllicoe’s visit and all the rest of it—is a deep-laid scheme of inveigling this country into huge naval, military and aerial commitments, with the Japanese as convenient bogey-men, the game will be well worth watching by those who have this country’s interests at heart. In the meantime, wo should prefer that Sir James Allen should stop "blurting.” We have delegates at the Peace Conference sitting with the Japanese as colleagues. Before anybody here is entitled to commit New Zealand to any policy, or to make prejudiced statements against allies calculated to provoke antagonism, those delegates must make their reports and recommendations to the representatives in Parliament for the consideration of the people of the country as a whole.