THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 1913. JAPAN AND THE PACIFIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15265, 1 April 1913, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 1913. JAPAN AND THE PACIFIC.

The Japanese Minister for the Navy . ha» been apparently frank in explain- " ihg his naval proposals to the Budget Sub-Committee of the national 1 Parliament, although the Western • world will naturally look for diplo- . mattic. reasons for the extraordinary statements ' r thus officially made. Admiral Takarebe explains that the ■ Government of the Mikado originally, intended " to build a fleet strong , enough to beat the fleet of a certain ; Power able to send • its principal 1 squadron of 31. battleships and crui- ' sers v into certain T waters which i WiyM. be ! %he'scene of the ileiif proh> abiy: i wa^' ,£^Th)s 'Hardngwiled, aUusion to "the : tlniteS, States indicates that the energy with which the '■-. Panama Canal has been pushed for- , 'w'Mfdf by the Washington Government was not necessary and that an attack upon America was actually planned by the advisers of the Mikado. Admiral Takarebe further informed the Subcommittee that " owing to . the; country' finance ;■ Japan' was -unable to carry. ; out so vast a scheme,", an announcement which may be regarded as an Asiatic way of holding out the olive branch to the ; Washington authorities. What the Japanese Minister for the Navy has so far omitted to make public is the purpose which inspires his present scheme for building a dozen powerful battleships, a fleet which may be ' incapable of beating the Great White Fleet that flies the Stars and Stripes but may be much , stronger than any other squadron to be found in the Pacific The nominal origin of the dispute between the United States and Japan was the status of Japanese in the State of California. Behind this unpleasantness, however, was the determination of the Americans of the Pacific: Slope to refuse to recognise the Japanese as entitled to the ■Marie 1 privileges of entry and to the acune civic rights as they freely ; iwscord to Europeans- There was no o);her cause? for quarrel, no other niiotiye- for.; Japanese resentment. Yet the resentment of the Japanese was m great, "the sense that there existed real cause for quarrel was , isointensoj .thatA Japanese Minislfciw for the Navy announces, that only ; financial ■difficulties prevented Japan ■; from attempting to build a fleet which wtiuld sweep American ' warships from the Pacific. It need hardly be pointed out that ' had Japan been able to effect this purg- & lijßg .tfeei Pacific from, the fighting ,'jjhips of <herenemy,-.tber/3 would have . been' little to prevent' the seizure of Hawaii and the Philippines, and a Japanese invasion , of the . Pacific Slope. Unless the United States proved ) victor in such a conflict any possible terms of peace would have been fatal to European civilisation in America, for Japan would be fighting for right of entry and this once secured ah irresistible Asiatic, influx Wpuld very soon have revolutionised , jthe. industrial, social and political I life;.of the English-speaking republic. When the statesmen of Washington iaent into the Pacific the Fleet which every British port welcomed so enthusiastically arid which Tokio received with unqualified expressions of peace and friendship, they were evidently informed of the designs of , Japan and were working strenuously •: to checkmate its strategy. The Herald pointed out at the time that in the Pacific the interests,of. British ■i arid Americans were identical arid il that the ties of & common race, & common language, a common religion and a common civilisation united them on any question involv- ' ing ; the supremacy of the Western nations • in Paoific waters. With the plans of Japan so freely explained, it is still more evident that wider problems than those of mere nationality have to be considered when the i future of this ocean is discussed. If ! Ji pan had been able to overwhelm I the American fleet and Germany had I coined the British Navy to the North Sea v how 'cdiild our colonial exclusion policies have been upheld against the conquering Mikado ? Furthermore: against whom is Japan building the dozen battleships which Admiral Takarebe admits are not offer battle to the Ameri- ■ -Cans?.. ■■; '.;■■-.;■■■ States which presume to exclude certain rakes, in an age of the world when migration is a prominent featuife .of fhumah'!i»ogreffls,r'must recognise that they,thereby throw down the gauntlet of war. , British colonies have been so accustomed to doing as they choose,. while ' the oceandominatng Imperal Navy wards off all foreign and alien interference, that they are very apt to,overlook the act that only the strong State can treat great and powerful raceß as; negligible factors in .' worldpolitics. .•<■ That the/ Japanese were eager to : : fight the' United States for the sake of asserting their racial " equality"~meanjng thereby, for the opportunity to enter freely and to occupy the American continent Without any regard to the effect of their entry upon American civilisashould teach us.that they are equally ready to fight New Zealand, Australia, Canada or any other State which excludes them. No profession of friendship; and no making of treaties, or agreement can possW- "■ affect in the ultimate the natural and '. inevitable determination of 1* »erj6'vijj»©;'people 'to -spread .^herJ - ■• • - '«

ever they can find room and; to force : their - way into sparsely populated lands barred against them. Tho only real safe^drdl possible againxt Asiatic influx/jnto the new European lands is to be able to fight for" them while persistently settling anil occupying • therm How effective for defence a superior fighting f<)rce is may be judged from the decision of Japan riot to attempt to 'match warships 1 against the United States j but we must; remember that the United States is able to thus outpace a would-be assailant because the Washington Government has encouraged European immigration, until a population of 90,000,000 occupies its territories and makes it the richest national authority in the world. In . New Zealand, easily capable of carrying 10,000,000, we have a population of little over 1,000,000 and our increase is. lamentably slow. ,The excess of arrivals over departures through the great port of AucklanU. for the last twelve months was only. 1600, although the North could easily have absorbed 15,000 had there been reasonable facilities for access to the land. '