AMERICA IN THE PACIFIC

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 18 April 1939, Page 7

AMERICA IN THE PACIFIC

In,d !n Affairs.

THE PHILIPPINES I “GATEWAY TO THE ORIENT” HAWAII BASES r<nvi:Ri i i. naval basks am* RADIO STATIONS When Robert Louis Stevenson I drifted into the South Seas fifty years ago the Spanish-American eon- » flirt, which gave America its Pacific possessions, had not occurred. Honolulu was not then “the centre of the Pacific basin,” nor were the Philippines “the gateway of the Orient," in diplomatic phraseology writes R.YY.B. in the “Age”). Powerful radio stations and naval bas-cs were unknown. Sirens chanted j their seductive music where aeroplanes now sing the song of speedy travel. 1 That virginity of sense which touched 1 the mind of R.L.S. is to-day but a mem- i orv. for as the lovable expatriate truly said. “The first experience of a Soutli Sea island can never be repeated.” In the whirligig of time the Pacific has been transformed into a Pandora's box of treasures in world trade, the j guardianship of which an aggressive militarism dictates. America's most powerful fleet, the Pacific fleet, is always around Honolulu. San Francisco | and Los Angeles: Field-Marshal Douglas McArthur, formerly Chief of Staff of *ho U.S.A. army, is stationed at Manila, viimfs there is an army of over 100.000. and the- Governors of American Samoa and Guam arc naval officers. There is no secret about all this, for. notwithstanding the hysterical reports of mysterious doing ins Washington. America tells the world of her preparedness with the same publicity sense as prompts her in .other departments of her social and economic life. It is a wholesome attitude, this telling the world about defences. Who knows .that corporate publicity of this kind among the English-speaking peoples may not serve as the greatest antidote to that secrecy and false propaganda which of late have produced suspicion and. a nameless fear Jn the peoples of Europe and Asia? Among the twenty-five air bases recommended to Congress by the Naval

Board on 4th January were establish- ; ments at Ford Island. Pearl Harbour. Hawaii: Kaneohe Bay. Oahu Island, j Hawaii: Midway Island. Wake Island, j Johnston Island. Palmyra Island and j Guam. Pacific CXPTAIN COOK'S HAWAII • In Augqst, 15)28. was celebrated the i 150th anniversary of the discovery of I the Hawaiian Islands by Captain Cook, j the great Englsih navigator. Eight of j the twenty islands are inhabited, with : a peculation estimated in 1937 at | 396.715 That figure included 21.389 I Hawaiians. 39.157 part Hawaiians and | 151.141 Japanese. Hawaii, the prinei- | pal island of the group, has an area | of 4015 square miles, and the popula- \ tion according to the census of 1930. ! numbered 73.325. The area of Oahu j which is surrounded by a coral reef ; is 598 square miles, with a popualtion ] 09301 of 202.887. Honolulu, the capital. is situated on Oahu, and had an estimated population in 1937 of 147.450. Othor races in the islands represented in the 1937 copulation figure were:— Americans. British. Germans and Rus- I sians. 57.890: Filipinos. 53.035: Portuguese. 30.130: Chinese. 27.657: Porto ; Ricans. 7529: Koreans. 6678: Spanish. ! 1233. and others. 876 During the greater part of the 19th • century the islands formed an indepen- | dent kingdom. In 1898 they were for- , merly annexed to the United States. | There is a Legislature of two Houses, j and the Governor and Secretary of the i Territory are appointed for four years ]

by the President of the United States, i The Hawaiians are Christians. • j The Federal Government of U.S.A. j has constructed extensive naval works • at Pearl Harbour, about seven miles ! from Honolulu, and military works at j Honolulu and other places on the island i of Oahu Imports by U.S.A., chiefly of i sugar, pineapples and coffee, in 1937 1 amounted to 1125.100.000. and exports j to Hawaii from that country were | valued at £17.150.000. Great Britain’s j figures in the same year were:—lm- ; ports. £51.019; exports. £235.638. Significant passages occur in the American Naval Board's report regard- 1 ing Hawaii, stressing the inadequacy I ;of tFie base at Pearl Harbour, which, 1 needs facilities for two carrier groups ' and ton patrol squadrons. . “It is | only as a secure base for naval operations that the islands possess a great strategic value, either in the defence of the mainland or defence of possessions to the westward.’ MAGELLAN’S PHILIPPINES Recapturing the atmosphere of Old Spain in the Philippines, we are re-

, minded that Ferdinand Magellan first | hoisted the Spanish flag on Cebu, which ; is 392 miies from Manila, in 1521. ' Ceded by Spain to the United States ; by a treaty of peace in 1899. the Philip- | pine Islands form the largest group of | the Malay Archipelago. The commonwealth is governed by a dual instrument I--a permanent constitution drafted by j the Filipino Constitutional Convention, and by an ordinance governing the relaj lions between the commonwealth and ; the United States of America for a | period of ten years, to end on 15th November. 1945. } When the ordinance lapses the comi monwealth automatically takes over j full sovereignty and becomes the Philippine Republic. Under the constitution a President, with considerable executive powers, is elected for six years, and the National Assembly of 98 mem j bers (the maximum is 120) is elected ! for three years. Adult suffrage for j both sexes operates. ! Actually the Philippines group is i composed of 7083 islands and islets, j with a total area of 114.000 square j miles. The two largest islands are Luzon. 40.874 square miles, and Min

danao. consisting of 36.906 square miles. Of the population (1931) of 12.420.927, more than 10.000,000 are of the Malay race, and 91 per cent, of these are Christians. The population of Manila, the capital and leading commercial centre, was estimated in 1936 to be 355.485. The dominant religion of the islands is Roman Catholic Newspapers numbering 260. published in English, Spanish and local dialects, have an aggregate circulating of 1.500.000. There are 400 cinemas. A national library is established at Manila. Free trade nominally exists between U.S.A. and the Philippines, but quotas fixed by Congress in 1934 restrict the export of sugar, cocoanut oil. cordage and twine to U.S.A. A tariff operates i against foreign imports into the Philippines. The principal products arc rice, i hemp, copra, sugar, corn, tobacco and maguey; the principal exports sugar, i cocoanut oil, hemp and copra, j Questions of broad political and miliitary significance are being considered | in respect of "the gateway of the \ Orient”- the Philippines—which may ! attain to statutory independence in | 1945. ! An American who has been con--1 cerned indirectly with the problem j points out that world conditions have 1 < hanged the outlook of the Filipinos

nemselves on the subject. Increasing ressure is being applied by social or- : anisations against "casting loose" a ?rritory which has developed so com- - letely. Commercial interests, export- ; rs and importers are taking the same , icv. while, on the other hand, sugar reducers in America endorse the attv • L ide of political organisations in the t ■hilippines which favour independence. Trade interests both in the Philip-11 ines and the Netherlands Indies are j aising doubts about the political wis- | om of isolating the Philippines. The | western States of America, by reason j f their interest in trade in the Far j Last, will endeavour to retain the : ’hilippines. Supplies of rubber, palm oil (which s used in the tinplate industries) and I l hundred other commodities would j nean much in the event of a European j ataclysm. America is dependent 1 nainlv upon British Malaya and the Dutch Indies for her rubber, while in j he southern half om Sumatra and in i lava there are established big Amcri- | :an industries. If you approach Palcmbang. Sumatra. at night, the tens of thousands j lights burning at the Standard Oil j fo.'s refineries suggest Pittsburg. The Goodyear and United States Rubber Go. have large factories in the Dutch I Indies. General Motors Corporation has established factories in Java, and 40 miles from Batavia penumatic tyres are produced, the motor requirements of Malaya. Siam. Indo-China and the Netherlands Indies increasing considerably every year. The view' of the strategists might be stated thus:— If an unfriendly Power decided to caoture the Philippines, invasion of the Netherlands Indies would inevitably follow, and the Pacific trade routes would become paralysed ” PAGO PAGO Quite a nice little harbour, small but very deep, is found at Pago Pago, but American Samoa is valued chiefly as a communication base. American Samoa began its history when in 1872. the harbour.* of Pago Pago, in -Tutuila. was ceded to the | United States for use as a naval and | coaling station In 1899 Great Britain land Germany renounced, in favour of i U.S.A.. all rights over the islands of the i Samoan group east of 171 deg. of longi- ! tude west of Greenwich. The total area | of American Samoa is 76 miles, and i the 1930 census computed a population ;of 10.055 There are no public lands I in American Samoa Nearly all the | land is owned by natives, who grow j fruits and copra. Pago Pago harbour jis a US A naval station GAUM AS OUTPOST Guam, an island lying 1500 mile? south of Japan, has little importance

| other than as a base in the event of • j hostilities. The War department of ' U.S.A. administers the island, which the Naval Board in its recent report • states "is well adapted for the main- ‘ tenance of an air force equal to or • superior to any hostile force that would 6 be assembled within a 1200,-mile radius. ' while the facilities for a submarine base ' are excellent.” ' • Situated at the southern extremity of j - j the Mariana Archipelago, the Island of j s ! Guam is the largest of the Magellan j group. Ceded by Spain to the United ! 1 States of America in 1898. it is but 30 1 s miles in length, the breadth, from j - four to eight and a half miles, an area I c of about 225 square miles. Guam is j s a naval station and saluting port under; - the jurisdiction of the U.S.A. Navy de-j ’• partment. A garrison of marines and a cl j shore naval force are maintained there.: • j The 1937 population estimate w as 22.137. : One hotel is operated by Pan-American - Airways in its trans-Paciflc service. j cl i AIJ except Guam, of the Marianne j e Islands, or Ladrones. originally bey longed to Spain, and were sold to Gern I many in 1899. There are fifteen of J them; ten are of volcanic origin, and - i only four of these are inhabited. They n | were called "Islas de los Ladrones” by e j Magellan’s crew in 1521. because of the s ‘ thieving propensity of the inhabitants.

rheir total area, excluding Guam, is but square miles. With the Caroline (south' and Marshall (south-south-east> islands, they are now administered under the Japan?sc mandate Saipan, about 200 miles north of Guam, is 1300 miles south ot Yokohama, and about the same distance east from Manila. America's renewed interest in Guam nas been intensified by the changed situation in China. In its recent notes Lo Japan, the U.S.A. has insisted upon the rights of American nationals and their interests in the Orient. The proposed fortification of Guam, a movement for the re-inclusion of which in the Defence Bill is foreshadowed in the Senate, is regarded as a measure of protection for the Philippines. "So long as Guam existed as a strong air and submarine base." the Secretary of Navy (Mr Claude A. SwansoiD reported to Congress in January. "hos- : tile operations against the Philippines would be a precarious undertaking. To an even greater extent Guam would greatly impede, if not actually deny, extensive hostile naval operations to the southward."