Foreign

Northland Age, Volume 1, Issue 10, 11 December 1931, Page 7

Foreign

* THE WAR IN THE EAST As to what the aftermath of a prolonged struggle between Japan and China will be is a question that should cause more thought here than in any other part of the Globe. New Zealand has little to fear from Oriental invasion, peaceful or ortherwise, but tropical Australia has very much to fear, and if there should be any overflow of either Jap or Mongolian it is our semi-tropical Northland that will get the doubtful honour of their attention. In both countries the population question has been one of in- * creasing concern for the last half century. A war, even on a gigantic scale, will not relieve the pressure to any extent, but it 'will undoubtedly * awaken in the minds of the victor the potentialities of a new found power and lead to the demand for a right to transplant part of a surplus population on to some of the sparsely peopled portions of the earth. Although Japan is well out of the torrid zone, the Japanese, being of Polynesian extraction, adapt themselves more readily to the tropics than to the colder regions. This is particularly noticeable in Australia, where the Japanese are to be found in large numbers' north of Rockhampton on the east, and north of Perth (with the exception of the goldfields) in the west. Japan has 2.5 percent of the area of the Western Pacific area but it has 15.5 percent of its popula- * tion. It has a population of 404 to

the square mile, not so dense certainly as in some European countries, but against that it must be remembered that no part of Japan is very fertile and much of it is barren. The population of tropical Australia is under 1 to the square mile and most of the land is extremely fertile. In China the congestion is even worse. At the present rate of increase neither of these countries will be able to support, themselves in 50 years time. Both countries are rapidly becoming enlightened and are beginning to think upon Western lines. With the issue of a successful war either one or other country will be casting about for new territory. The question arises, can Australia deny that demand on her own resources, and, if not, can England, with trouble looming in India and Africa, afford to help? Or to put it on the broader basis of world politics, can a mere handful of whites hold for posterity an area of 1,149,320 square miles of fertile tropical land while starvation is facing the landless Asiatic at home ? Here is a problem of magnitude for the politicians.