A GLIMPSE OF JAPAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12954, 25 August 1905, Page 6

A GLIMPSE OF JAPAN.

LECTURE BY COLONEL BELL. Sidney, August 15. Colonel Bell (formerly United States Consul at Sydney), i n a lecture delivered in the Centenary Hall, has discoursed most entertainingly concerning Japan and things Japanese.. The lecturer, who was intro* duoed by Sir William McMillan .as one whose popularity during his term of office in this btate nas never been excelled by the representative of any foreign country, has quite recently returned from the East, where no spent six months closely studying the manners and customs of the interesting people upon whom the eyes of the world are at present centred. Although during the post few years almost everything that is known of Japan has been published over and over again, Colonel Bell's powers of observation, command of language, and peculiarly happy platform style, enabled him to hold the close attention of his hearers for upwards of two hours, a great number of remarkably beautiful views, illustrative of various phases of life in Japan, contributing to the interest- of the lecture. Thirtyseven or 38 years ago, the lecturer pointed out, Japan was but a geographical expression, and the country was as a sealed book to the rest of the world. He described its peoples wonderful achievements in that brief space of time as a record which had never been equalled in the history of civilisation, Some folk, he said, chose to regard the Japanese as an inferior race, but he asked how could an inferior raoo possess such superior power in every direction in life? The subjects of the Mikado, he had no hesitation in saying, were imbued with as good a Christian spirit as any people that ever lived. There was nothing in history, tradition, or poetry to equal their courage, their fortitude, their bravery, and— of all—their humanity. Some spoke of them as imitative. They were not imitative, but they were the most receptive people that had over trod the earth. The secret of their success lay in their determination to " seek knowledge throughout the whole world," and in their religious sentiments. Colonel Bell mentioned that whilo in 1872 there was not a newspaper in the country, to-day Japan possessed 1000 journals. In that year the. first railway was started; now there were 4300 miles of railways, than which there were none better in any single respect anywhere; and along these lines last year 110,000,000 people travelled at less than id per mile. At that time 277 persons owned the whole of the land; now the land belonged to the people, and only a fourth of the farmers were wholly tenants, the remainder either entirely or partly owning their farms. No people in the world were so ravenous for education, and 90 per cent, of the children of school age regularly attended the schools, included among which wore no fewer than 450 kindergartens.