Nelson Evening Mail THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 1938 HONG KONG

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 13 January 1938, Page 6

Nelson Evening Mail THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 1938 HONG KONG

I HE island of Hong Kong is now 1 the only place in the Far East where European races have a firm ! and sure footing. Japanese imperialists, according to Mr Illingworth Mackay, look with envy upon Hong Kong, for they know i that the island guards the approaches to Canton, and stands in the way of an attack south- j ward on French Indo-China, Siam, j Singapore, the Dutch East Indies j and New Guinea. Visits, he says, / have to be paid to the squalid 1 cities in the Chinese Republic before one can really appreciate afl that the British have done in Hon/g Kong. The island has been undjer the British flag since 1840. In that year a British expeditionary j force arrived and made HVrng [ Kong its headquarters. The Treaty of Nanking, which was i signed in 1842, ceded the island | to Great Britain. It was made a Crown Colony in 1 844/. Most; people are surprised to find that I officially there is no city called i Hong Kong, which is name of the island. There are 500,000 Chinese and 13,000 foreigners in Honk Kong and in late years numbers of factories have been j built, but Hong Kong flourishes r because it is thje trade centre of j South China and a safe base \ where merchandise can be stored. | Referring to the defences of Hong Kong and in late years tfie batteri/efe which protect the harbour entrances could not hold out long if pitted against the might oft the Japanese fleet. Japan is gradually growing closer towards Hong Kong. Th#e Japanese, virile and ambitious, are convinced that we are gradually declining in power and prestige. In Japan’s eyes the British peoples are a spent force in, the commercial, naval and military spheres. They have decisively beaten us in the struggle for markets, and they have added enormously to their selfesteem.

Th#e Japanese, virile and ambitious, are convinced that we are gradually declining in power and prestige. In Japan’s eyes the British peoples are a spent force in, the commercial, naval and military spheres. They have decisively beaten us in the struggle for markets, and they have added enormously to their selfesteem. Hong King, he concludes, stands as a perpetual challenge to the Japanese empire. If Japan wishes to consummate its designs in the Far East, then Hong Kong must come under Japanese ownership.

It was stated last week by the naval writer of the London “Daily Telegraph” that Britain is now in a position to mass a fleet of five capital ships, seven cruisers, nine light cruisers, nine destroyers and fifteen submarines in the Pacific without endangering the security of other stations. To-day in British yards warships totalling over half-a-milion tons are on the stocks. These include five battleships, and next year a similar group will be laid down. There is no doubt that the cutting of the defence” vote to the bone in the recent past has added greatly to the dangers surrounding all citizens of the British Empire to-day.