THE FAR EAST

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 18 January 1928, Page 6

THE FAR EAST

UNREST IN ASIA

iSPEQIAJL ;«IJjFEJRENC|B TO CWJNA

ADDRESS BY SUMMER SCHOOL

PRESIDENT

The School of Music was filled last night . by; students-of the Teachers' Summer v, Schoolahd' members of the public -to hear an address by the President of the School tMr % Milner) on the reawaken_'jh.g of. the' Orient with special reference to China and Japan. ' :"*. •■ Mr Milner said it was the- major part <*:'oi his "province at the Summer School to toWTawifi international sympathy. New Zealand was inclined to be isolated in •. thought as well as in fact and a similar ■•-' 'parocß.iai- insularity cUaracterisdd the mental; outlook of a great many people r: in England/' Had we-studied tlie history '" ahd the. psychology of other nations and tried to" understand their aims and sympathies would have been a .:'.' gre?:{er chance of interrupting the trend "that culminated in .the Great War, that „,.'devastating calamity which left the • wprld economically and spiritually sick. -,~J. ojie great authority stated that wars •< originated' in theinsuiarTeachings of the K class rppms and Mr Milner- asked those teachers who, were listening to him to sgfi Unit the children under their care did ,r;npfc;iriibibe wrong- ideas about other na- '■ ~lionV»- Gonsidei'atipn: for.the rest of hu- " ' : was necessary, The; inculcation •/•of 'narrow views without any sympathy - -for; ©litside peoples made possible-the -''" danger of a bigoted nationalism turning in'theend to aggressiveness, i The other to^he/guarded'agamst •**" for it*-'was,ni>;use indulging in a flabby •J sentiinentalism:which gave the affairs of "J- othw nations a greater importance than '»>'■ -those of bur own. While'a proper ap.- '*? preciafcibn of the British Empire's glo- ** rions'ideals and traditions should: be :" taugfit'it; should'he combined with a pro- ** per'uriderstanding of other peoples. It ':** had'heeh stated that.the attainment of * t * the ti-ueinternationar-niind was a very ;.'« rare ptienomerion but it was possible in :' imagination and with the help of reha- •"" ble books/to visit other, nations, study Vi. their "histories; v and sympathise with "•*" them. - Mr- Milner. quoted the maxim: >£ : "I am a man, therefore all that concerns ;;: humanity it is. my duty to study and ! ' i; briefly the history . of ir* civilisation, tne; speaker showed now ** world interests had shifted from one i* ceiitie to ariother--from the banks ot w- the Nile and; Euphrates to the shores ot * ': the Mediterranean, 'thenV to' the Strugs >» glaidf'lpdia and the spice islands be- •:* tween. Portugal, 'Holland, France .and '■*■ BySam."' #i£ century had witnessed >«;- apothfes change, The transfer; Of world : *■''- interest to the'Pacific.Ocean with its im>t nieasorable pofentiahtJfis of commercial *' and political envelopment,. Fringing the *£ s'hpres of the Pacific' were] 22 .'nations <: Vjr containing amongst them two-thirds of '•'■' the whole; : ; population of the-earth. .V^^aciiig-each other across this ocean were InW great and. very 'different forins of v civilisatiai--tlie Oriental in.'-. Asia ■, the ■' ; , Occidental in'America, ami there had • iew years ago alarfmst rumours of an inevitable clash between these two - /peoples.. The'late Mr Massey said that f-othirig could obviate a clash between I Japan and "the U.S.A. and those who wete familiar with the tremendous and cpmpetiiiTO naval building planssbeing carried oot by Those two, nations at .the. iniie would realise that Mr Massey s view was'justified ,It wa/i with regard to Ghina that ; the policies of these nations-* were so diametrically opposed. The United States fayourai the 'open door" while Japan supported ,t|io pegging out of 'international territories and the exploitation'of Ttljiiiia.. : Awar,.into which the been" dragged,: ?secined ; inevitable. - Had 'sicli a - was; doubtful whether. -Civilisation; would .' have survived if and the''world may have once ; more looked upon'an ago of barbarism. But The sanity of mankind triumphed and by the Washington Conference the clash was postponed for at least -ten years'. That agreement had certainly - been sidestepped by the building of a large number of small naval craft within the'stipulated size and by the deye- • ; 'lopWept'oraviation, but'it was an exampi* o| what' could'-be, done 1 iii apparently iiObeiess circumstances.. .V;-' Zealand.was particularlyinterest- "-'-'" edf'l'p-the" problems y£ in ".' aadiuon to; her ...own' islands she''field..' a. - laaiidate oyer Samoa, uucler which Samoa' naci to he aaininistered in trie lri- .-" ■ tcrests of the Sampans. New Zealand / was tnei-'iidre now taking a greaft. iriceV- •;■■ tsv in oi.ine"institute'' oi ±*a- ".->-• cine iteiatibns, a i-oiu'ereiic'e'oi delegates iii/iii uits-nations concernea convenea ior ine purpose of supplying reliable data on ~~:tu(B-vai'«ous prou*eins iiiat are the cui- ';: , eerri pf the tacilic region. A similar but t ■ ufa 'so saeutinc v b,ppy 'riad been convened > earlier through the idealism o.f an Aihe- '"' .. rican Aleviaiicler J*'ord, wno wanted the :'. Pacific, nations to. a better under-. '. standing of ope another. , ■j _•Mr Milner 'now referred to what he ;, termed :;the Asiatic renaissance, i'ii'ty C years ago, lie said, the. position was en- '... '\ Lloyd ..George a lew >. .years later in one ot hi? characteristic .'*.. "explosive statements said that Turkey ■ '■■' ■ ' "tne. sick man of, Europe" would be 'kickied out, but now Turkey was. still-in 'H p9sesssibn of Constantinople and now V more firmly entrenched in a spirit of roV bust .'.'nationalism than ever. Democracy < had ialled over most of Europe. Italy, * Sptia Germany, had dictators, Tur- ' '. keyVwas ;^rul«fd: by the staff of i£emal . } tasha, and France was looking for " a \ strong leader. England was the only ' •»' country in 'E;urope Where dtemocracy i was still in successful existence. A de- ; ; Velopmerit of nationalism in Egypt simi-'--.i}ar",tb that in Turkey had resulted in .- - - Egypt becoming independent. What Egypt and Turkey bad accomplished had iiad a profound eft'ect throughout the of Asia. Another striking exam- ■ had been set by Japan. In a jjhort' space of 45 years Japan so completelj' from the hopelessly out- ■ of date state in which she had previously been that, on her decisive defeat both ori-sea-and on land of Russia in 1905, she swam into the World's ken as a power of the first magnitude. Japan's niew importance was at once recognised by Britain and the Anglo-Japanese alliance resulted. Japan's achievement of .."JnUderrt civilisation in so short a time ••'•was nothing short of miraculous. Asia •"'had thus seen"what could be done by a nation in earnest. The lesson learnt from Japari was that there was no iiiberent.jjacial superiority in the west. The Great War too look away o, good deal of the prestige, that the civilisation of Europe had hehj. for-the Oriental pea,ples aTgupd that' if this was the,outcome t of western culture then they would have none of it. If, was this combination of factors - that, accentuated the unrest in Asia. Only 30 years ago bolh Britain and Russia were strongly entrenched in Persia, and Afghanistan. Persia, had now developed a strong incipient nationalism and-Britain was only with difficulty retaining her oil concessions there. So too Afghanistan had gained much more free-' dom and no longer paid ;i tribute in recognition of the suzerainty of Britain. ;. In Tndia there was now on trial one of

the greatest political experiments of the age. Britain was now aware that coercion was no longer any ruse and'it was no good saying the-natives were belter Satisfied under harsh treatment. The ideal for India was the development of an autonomous government and Britain was accordingly steadily bringing about the lndiasation of the civil service and of the government. This action was n\ ac.cor.d--'aticowith tho best 'jdcals of British po■liticaJ'freedom, and India would in timetake h f l' place as a member of the great commonwealth of nations forming the Empire. Turning to China and its neighbours there was evidence of intense nationalism in Korea against the Japanese control and similarly in the Phillipines against the United States. One result of the trouble in the Phillipines was that the United States was now able to appreciate Britain's position in regard to India. • The Sxtraprdinnvy nationalist movement, in China to-day was not. isolated but was felt throughout, Asia. It was caused through a number of reasons, and while-the speaker did not wish to underrate the, Bolshevist factor, yet it was not the underlying driving force really responsible. In China a number of revolutions were taking place and in their impatience to seo some order rising out of chaos there British people apt of forget that for hundreds of yoars in England the country suffered a series of revolutions. before. the modern political freedom was brought about. Tiro war-lords who were devastating and impoverishing China were nevertheless only a kind of pantomime show and did not indicate in any way tho great undercurrent of. national feeling permeating the Chinese. '.Bolshevism would never appeal To the Chinese because the peasant ownership of the country was too firmly established. Since Sir Austen Chamberlain's statement of Britain's policy in China we had every reason to b,e proud, of the Empire's attitude there. In .spite of calls for naval protection and aggression from British,nationals affected by the. Chinese hatred, of Britain a policy of conciliation had. been insisted upon* arid it liad been said flint as soon as a stable representative government prose in China theii Britain would treat' with, it and allow China to make her own "■ regulations for foreigners and impose'her own .tariff.' Thi-5 attitude was backed up by the United States and the sympathy of those two nations would greatly assist China, to evolve a stable government. ' Japan'had for a long time been made a bogey of by newspapers. It had been asserted" that Japan' with her already overcrowded population must spill over into'Australia'and.New Zealand. But Japan/ was 'not concerned about Australia anfl New Zealand. She looked more to . consolidation' on the Asiatic-, mainland in lower Siberia, Manchuria arid Mongolia. : Also the Japanese were not,a migrant nation. Only half a.'million-of them had le'li their''home shore's during the last-70 years. 'The industrialisation of Japan combined with other plans was inore than sufficient to cope with the I increasing population. The war . with| Japan was not a battle of force but a i battle of ; economic standards for the factory system;Jn Japan was resulting in serious competition with the industry 'of other countries-,, notably England. Already Japan practically controlled the eastern markets exclusively and her hug% manufacture was making an impression 6n : Australia arid New Zealand. Japan was' developing along lines inimical to war. There was tirew ltberalisatiqn of the country combined with an ih•creased franchise which gave more power to those classes of the, people desiring • peace. "The,' Japanese invasion is an economic invasion/' At the conclusion of his address Mr Milner showed a' series of lantern slides depicting many feature's of Japanese life. His comme- f s on these .'pictures added much to'their interest. •'.'•