A GREATER BRITAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19143, 8 October 1925, Page 12

A GREATER BRITAIN.

PROBLEMS OF THE PACIFIC. FUTURE OF THE DOMINION. CHINA A REAL PERIL. STRONG BOLSHEVIK INFLUENCE. [By TELEGRAPH.—OWN COB RESPONDENT. ] CHRISTCHUIiCH, Wednesday. " In 100 years New Zealand will have taken a foremost place as a Greater Britain. Already we have made our mark in legislation and thought, and we litive contributed to the world our quota of scientists and men of service. We stand for what is best in the Old Land, especially our love of freedom." Those were the closing remarks in an interesting address by Professor Macmillan Brown on "The Pacific Ocean and the British Empire." Professor Brown said the desire for universal pence was a very widespread one, but there were a good many dishonest and brigand communities in the world. The suggested cure by some people was that Great Britain should be urn.rmed. If any of these nations should attack it, that would lead to nationtil chaos, and it would not be possible to do without armaments until there were no criminal nations and no judges, gaolers and policemen. In other words, there must ivy a change in human nature. Until that was achieved he was not among the pacifists. The humtin system seemed always to require competition. That being so, was it possible to make the Pacific Ocean pacific indeed ? All through history the Pacific had been isolated from the rest of the world. The same was true in the case of all the past civilisations of America, which had contributed nothing t.o general human progress. How were the East and the West to be united ? That was the great problem of the Pacific. Famine Disciplined People. One problem was the colour bar, but that was not a real barrier, because there were many white people in the East. A difficult problem was the difference in ethics, but the great difficulty was the economic problem. Considering only the fecundity of the East, it would be seen that there was a low standard of living. The northern Chinese peasants and labourers represented, the most efficient human machine in the world. Thev were famine disciplined, wiry and with small appetite. How could any Western labourer hope to compete with them ? "If the grmt floodgates of the East are opened we will be Orientalised in a century," said Professor Brown. " There is not a chance of our standing against that Chinese flood, especially from the north." Factories were springing up in China, and as the pay was very low the Western nations would be utterly unable to compete with these cheup goods. Ihe East and West faced each other over the Pacific Ocean. The West was pressing on the East, and the ring of Occidentals round the Orientals was almost complete. "Was it any wonder that the Orientals were getting alarmed ? They were pmctically told that they must stay _ in the circle, in a sort of quarantine. Was it any wonder that the Orientals were frightened at this taboo ? the Chinese were allowed to settle in Northern Australia they would soon drift to the towns. They were not pioneers like the Westerners. Thgn the Chinese would cross with the slum and so breed a hybrid of the worst type. It had been suggested that the Eurofeans should withdraw from the Easthat would show that the Europeans were afraid. The Orientals would push out and try to get into Occidental territory. That would result in one of the most embittered wars in all history, as the Europeans would be in danger of losing their dominance in the Pacific. Lever Against the West. A dangerous influence in China was the Bolshevik propaganda. The Bolsheviks wanted to use China as a lever against the West. They had got hold of young China, and persuaded it that now was the time to wipe out the foreigner while Europe was recovering from the war. The Chinese armies were of little account in war. They were merely gangs of bandits. "Squeeze" was in China the universal eleventh commandment. No Chinaman trusted his neighbour. The Chinese admired the European institutions in China. If the Bolsheviks succeeded with their propaganda'there would be no justice in China. There would be no tariff collected properly, and there would be the theft of millions of Europeon money lent to develop China. There was no chance of China being developed if these Bolsheviks should succeed. Professor Brown predicted that America would soon become a member of the League of Nations, and would become intensely interested in other nations. During the years before she entered the war America collected all the loose cash in the world, and in time would have to invest that in other countries, so that her interest in these other countries would increase. That would come, but it seemed to him there was only one nation in the world capable of dealing with the Pacific's problem, and that was the British Empire. That was a trn'/y oceanic empire, flung round the whole world. It was, moreover, more likely to last than previous great empires, because its component parts articulated freely. There was no rigid written constitution, and of all countries New Zealand was the part of the Empire best fitted to tackle the Pacific problems. New Zealand would one day be a great naval power. It would be in the vanguard in the settlement of Pacific problems.