THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JULY 27, 1926. PACIFIC RELATIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19390, 27 July 1926, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JULY 27, 1926. PACIFIC RELATIONS.

When the Institute of Pacific Relations closed its initial conference at Honolulu last July it planned a further meeting in two years' time. This step was inspired by a determination to organise the Institute on a permanent basis, and was accompanied by the appointment of an organising committee empowered to give effect to that determination. The committee chose Mr. J. M. Davis, of Honolulu, as the Institute's general secretary, and in furtherance of his work he has visited Japan, is now visiting Australia, and in due course will visit New Zealand. His travels are designed to promote the success of the next conference. Credentialled by the Institute, he seeks no other official status. His mission, however charged with public interest, is essentially aloof from State business. He embodies the policy of the Institute, which undertakes no liaison function between Governments, but rather seeks to foster inter-racial friendliness by mutual study of the divisive national outlooks that imperil the peace of the Pacific. It has studiously kept its hands off the political machinery. In the whole of the deliberations conducted last year not a single resolution was submitted apart from those directing its own organisation. Its members then discussed with the utmost frankness the questions vexing the countries fronting this ocean, but by common consent refrained from dictating any solution to be pressed upon Governments. ■ To some onlookers this hesitation may have been suggestive of weakness, but as a matter of fact it is in this restraint that the Institute's strength lies. International hostilities take their rise most often in international misunderstandings, and the spade-woi-k of reconciliation can best be done in an atmosphere free from State negotiations. Had the Institute's members met as official delegations there would inevitably have been room for suspicion that they had come to =vie with one another for national advantage.- Instead, apprehension of diplomatic motives was averted by their wholly unofficial status, and the way made plain for interchangs 3t unbuttoned speech on diverse* racial ideals in ethics, philosophy, religion and education. Some progress was made toward a _ friendship founded on mutual respect and understanding. Americans, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Filipinos were able, in public addrepses and in round-table discussions freedom in private, to. "think aloud." The United States Immigration Act of 1924, which on its' passing threatened to provoke a breach of the peace with Japan, was the most prominent topic of discussion. Next in prominence was China's subjection to foreign control, the Chinese group presenting forcefully the desire of China .for tariff autonomy, the abrogation of extra-territorial rights and equal treatment of her nationals resident in other Pacific countries. The relations of the United States to the Philippines were reviewed. Other issues were subsidiary. The interests of the conference lay chiefly in the North Pacific. But all were handled as more than political controversies : there was a courageous effort to find the racial points of view underlying differences in policy. There was no idly mischievous playing with fire, but a resolute attempt to discover the causes of incendiary outbreaks. To know the facts was esteemed a duty 1 of first importance, and this impelled thorough and tolerant investigation on scientific rather than political .lines. Standards of life and health, natural resources, statistics of population, industrial and commercial methods, and social customs were examined in cold light, yet with an ardent eagerness to obtain just views. There can be little doubt of the value of such unofficial ventilation of differences. There is an urgent need for extended activity along these lines. Different orders of civilisation meet in the Pacific, and where they meet they clash with more or less abruptness and severity. Their impact calls for control in 'the interests of every people involved. They cannot be kept asunder by ultimatums. That method has served its day. It cannot be renewed indefinitely. Sooner pr later it must be replaced by international agreement. Round the Pacific basin, as Mr. Davis attests, there runs a circle of fear leads to panic, and panic to conflict. This psychological scourge of Europe, which has provoked many a war, and is ever threatening to provoke another, has come hither also, and unless it assuaged will make this basin a cauldron. The plan adopted by the Institute may app.ea .• too deliberate to overtake the urgency. There is a task for responsible statesmen to undertake at once, and happily some signs appear that they are awake to the need. But the Institute's method may contribute much, not to the immediate averting of strife, but to the dissemination of an inter-racial sympathy calculated eventually to mitigate hostility and promote enduring harmony. *lt is the longest way round, maybe; but it is likely to prove the surest wa\ home. For this reason the missiea of Mr. Davis, unofficial as it is, merits approval and welcome.