PROBLEMS OF THE PACIFIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19143, 8 October 1925, Page 10

PROBLEMS OF THE PACIFIC.

Even from the necessarily sketchy outline of Professor Macmillan Brown's lecture on "The Pacific Ocean and the British Empire," as reported by telegraph, it is possible to appreciate the points he makes. His survey is remarkable both for its breadth and its insight, and he has expressed his opinion with the facility of clear phrase for which he is notable. With most of his feais and hopes there will be general agreement on the part of those who have made any study of the changing Pacific. Its rapid transformation into an arena wherein East and West stand face to face is becoming an essential fact in the outlook. Were they capable of easy and safe commingling that outlook would be fraught with less anxiety. As it is, there are racial, ethical and economic differences so marked as to present sinister possibilities, and they are made the more grave by the baneful Soviet propaganda which is seeking to make China an instrument of international disaffection. Into the tangle of alien and inimical tendencies Professor Macmillan Brown has probed deeply. His longcontinued research makes his findings weighty. Apparently, he realises as fully as others have done that no solution of the problems is ready to hand. They are too vast and complicated to admit of that. International co-operation alone can find a safe way whore the interests and rights of white, brown and yellow races have such close, yet distinctive, interaction. Ho looks to America for aid, but rightly empha-

sises Britain's eminent responsibility and the vital import of these problems for New Zealand. The hearing of this conclusion should be seized by our political leaders, and seized soon. The Dominion's destiny cannot be separated from these inter-racia' issues, and it behoves every aspirant for political position to ponder them as of tremendous importance. Let it, not displease them that they be asked to give evidence in their election speeches that they are thinking to conclusions about these things—not in any peddling fashion, but with broad statesmanship. The Dominion must have a foreign policy of some definiteness. It is all very well to say that we are prepared to follow the lead of the British Government. That is wise, as far as it goes ; but British Governments change in personnel and party and policy, and they each will look to this Dominion, among others, for help in counsel and action. Incidentally, Professor Macmillan Brown's thought-pro-voking deliverance emphasises the. need lately noted for some improvement in our administrative machinery for dealing with external affairs. Haphazard and casual handling must give place to expert and orderly treatment, and one of the first duties of the next Parliament should be the putting of this department of public business into a thoroughly workmanlike shape.