The New Zealand Herald AUCKLAND, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1944 JAPAN'S NEW LEADERSHIP

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24827, 25 February 1944, Page 2

The New Zealand Herald AUCKLAND, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1944 JAPAN'S NEW LEADERSHIP

The stroke which has made Tojo chief of the Army Staff in Japan, as well as Prime .Minister, Minister of War and of Commerce and Industry, only means the tightening of a dictatorial organisation which already existed. Its effects will probably be felt more in administration than in policy. The elimination of any semblance of democratic rule came long before this move, and indeed, before Tojo's appointment as Prime Minister, in October, 19-11. In the early part of I!) 10 all the existing political parties were dissolved in of a simple totalitarian government under Prince Konoye. Thus absolutism was I established more than a year before J Tojo came to the fore as the ! national leader whose name " ill be j for ever associated with the treacherous stroke at. Pearl Harbour. With the. disappearance of the political parties the labour unions were dissolved also. The only organisation which appeared to survive was the Communist Party which, though outlawed, continued to operate underground. It, however, was never very large or significant. As an indication of the thoroughness with which every form of independent, organisation was stamped out, the various Christian denominations l operating in the country were I merged into a single Japanese ; Christian Church and the owner- | ship of all Church property was | vested in Japanese hands. There remained little to add to the totalitarian system when Japan went to war, and the concentration of greater powers in Tojo's hands j merely alters the structure, not the spirit, of the existing dictatorial j regime. Since ISS9 Japan has had a constitution ostensibly on the western ! model. It provides for a Diet of j two Chambers, the lower house j being elected on manhood suffrage, j Even a part of the House of Peers is elective, but on an exclusive property franchise. Since all males of 25 years and upwards are entitled to vote, and all over 30 to hold office, at first sight effective Parliamentary government seems to be provided. However, the relations between the Throne, the executive and the popular assembly entirely nullify this semblance of democratic rule. The Cabinet and the members of the Government are responsible to the Emperor and not to Parliament. By long custom the Mini.ters of the Army and Navy are appointed from those services and are responsible only to the Emperor. By virtue of this unassailable position they exercise, and have long exercised, a virtual dictatorship over both the Diet and the people. A remarkable instance of the extremes to which this independence of civil control can go is provided by the Army group which holds Manchukuo. Some 30 divisions strong, known as the Kwangtung army, it is in absolute control of the province, both militarily and economically, and has even developed its own munitions industry. So completely has the Kwangtung army established an empire of its own in Manchukuo that it has been soberly suggested it will fight on after Japan properhas been defeated. For all that has been said about Prussian militarism, it is out-rivalled by the Japanese brand when it comes to dominating the country in which it operates. The real power in Japan thus rests with the Government appointed by the Emperor, and the preponderance is with the service Ministers because of their aggressiveness and lack of ordinary scruples. There is, however, another power outside the Government and the services. It consists of the financial oligarchyknown as the Zaibatsu, made up of the four great monopolistic concerns, Mitsui, Mitsuibashi, Sumitomes and Yasuda. These four, the equivalent of the great German cartels, among them control the greater part of Japanese financial resources, and most of the significant industries outside of agriculture. They work in close co-opera-tion with the Government, and may be said to be part of it on the administrative side. With such forces arrayed against it, little wonder that the Diet is not an effective part of the machinery of government. At most it can merely obstruct the Government, and is liable to dissolution if it does so. The structure thus described, it should be understood, is not a development of war conditions, ft has been normal to the life of Japan for many years past. War emergency has led to much more direct Government control of labour, production, exchange, property and profits, but the machinery for it was already in existence. The change-over which has just taken place merely concentrates in the hands of Tojo more of the powers which the Government already wielded, and makes him a single-handed dictator rather than just one of a governing oligarchy. Its effect on the life and liberties of the people will be negligible, and it will probably make little difference in policy, though it may affect the strategy Japan will pursue in the future. SIR HUBERT OSTLER The death of Sir Hubert, Ostler brings to a close the career of one of New Zealand's most distinguished sons an a file lawyer and advocate, an eminent Judge, and a man of rugged character and of fearless and independent judgment,. Auckland always took special pride in his achievements, for here, as one of the leaders of the Bar, he practised for nine years until he was elevated to the Supreme Court, lie became a Judge as a comparatively young man ; his youthful outlook and his sympathy with youth were amply shown by his anxious desire to help the erring before they became committed to a life of crime. But there was nothing mawkish in his outlook. If unpleasant things had to be done or said, Sir Hubert never shrank from them. lie was an untiring and speedy worker. His judgments were quickly delivered and were models of lucidity and cogency. It is not

given to any Judge to avoid correction by a Court of Appeal ; but on more than one occasion the .judgment of Sir Hubert was vindicated by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. When he retired from the Bench, Sir Hubert, could look back on a life lived to the full begun as a farmer, full of success at the Bar, relieved by the excitements of the sportsman and by the use of literary gifts of no mean order, and crowned with the honour of knighthood in the service of the Dominion. The pity of it was that, in his latter years he was racked with a cruel malady. For years he j struggled against it and conducted | undaunted his heavy duties as a j.ludge. No complaint passed his j lips ; the vigour of his intellect was | undiminished. But finally he had to | abandon his labours. He has died I after long suffering; he will leave I in this Dominion (he memory of a great Judge, but above all that ol ia brave man, loved by his friends and respected by the whole coinI munity. EXAMPLE TO BE FOLLOWED The city of New York has fol- ! lowed the lead of 500 other cities I in the United States and imposed a ! to o'clock curfew for girls under IG years of age. America has one set of ! moral problems and New Zealand j another, but common to both is the ! promiscuity generally to be found I where large bodies of troops with j ample leave are camped near the I cities. The men miss the restrainj ing influence of their homes and j their own womenfolk. The level of j their conduct falls. There is not a j fat her or mother in Auckiand or I Wellington who, possessed of a sense of parental responsibility, I views with equanimity the dcparIture into the city at night of a young daughter. If other fathers jand mothers are not so concerned, the duty devolves on the community to give young girls the protection denied them by their parents. It is jnot right to suggest that these I youngsters have their own lives to | lead, that they should be allowed to go their own way. If they will not choose a better way—they would if proper guidance were, available—they must be held back from the streets at night and prevented from attending questionable places of amusement,. Ample evidence of the necessity of some form of restraint is to be found in the city almost every night. If responsible communities in America have found it desirable to impose a curfew for the protection of girls against their own kinsfolk, Auckland has no call to be squeamish. The only real issue is whether the curfew should be limited to girls under 16 only. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Child Delinquency Sir. —Sheath knives, pea-rifles, catapults. slings, and cigarettes in the mouths of children are quite a common sight any time, any day. Sundays included. 1 have never known an adult to cheek any of these children, and the majority are not deprived of their parents. There are other things to he seen which 1 do not care to write about. SF.IUOUS Obskrv K.R. Tyre 'Rationing Sir. —Country roads are rougher than town ones. Tyres wear out at least ten times as fast as on tarred roads. Vet are we allowed ten times as many tyres ? So we send our precious petrol coupons to town friends and we stay at home and envy them. None of us has seen a much longed for picture for a very long time. Our town friends send us descriptions of them by letter. The tyre rationing is unequal, considering the roads. SoUTARV. Meat, Butchers and the Public Sir, —Concerning one thing all of us ought to he agreed: The sacrifices imposed upon us by the war ought to be fairly shouldered by the whole community. How, then, will our meatrationing policy affect the public? How will it affect butchers? The public will be required to consume less meat and, if the best, authorities are to be believed, will be benefited by the change. Butchers' selling prices have, for a considerable period, been fixed, while their buying prices have been free and have been increased by the increasing requirements of the armed forces. Thus, by common consent, butchers have, during a considerable portion of the vear, been serving the public at a loss. Now rationing will make a cut in thenturnover of nearly 50 per cent, while leaving their running costs practically unaffected. Thus, it appears that this particular sacrifice, forced upon us by the war. while likely to benefit the public is likely to ruin the butchers. How ought the loss that is inseparable from reduced turnover t<> he placed on the shoulders of the whole community? \\ hen so many foodstuffs are subsidised, why not meat? A subsidy of one penny a pound on rationed meats would cost each member of the public about lis a year. To the butcher with a weekly turnover of .'SOOOI h.—the equivalent of five beef carcases —it would mean a weekly gain of £l2 ]os with no addition to costs. To the public the subsidy would bo trilling. To the butcher it might mean the difference between n crippling loss and a reasonable profit. Manurewa. J. Johnstone. Men ol thje Merchant Navy Sir, —There have been several letters from seamen about concessions. Is it not time someone else took up the cudgels on their behalf? Why not the Automobile Association (Auckland), who use the petrol they bring? And the Returned Services Association, whom I hey carry on the high seas? Does the Labour Government only cater for big unions? It does not look hopeful for minorities under socialism. J| K. ANDKItSON. Sir,—ln view of the fact that this Dominion, in particular, owes such a deep debt of gratitude to merchant seamen it is hard to understand why the Government does not grant to them the same travel concessions as those given by other Governments in the British Empire. In Admiral Harper's words: "Our British seamen risk their lives daily as surely as those at sea in His Majesty's ships, as those men ol the Air force who actually fly, or as those soldiers who are stationed in the front line. They are taking risks infinitely greater than the majority who have the privilege ol wearing the King's uniform." This, of course, is true. Vet the travel concessions enjoyed by airmen and soldiers are withheld from sailors who brave the perils of the sea, dav in, day out, in our defence. The paltry travel concessions due to these men are but a drop in the huge bucket of debt that this country owes to them. It seems to me ironical that political leaders at times speak in glowing, terms of "the courage, fortitude and devotion to duty of the nation's sailors," and stress that "nothing is too good for them when they come ashore," yet turn a deaf ear to their just claims for similar travel concessions ashore as that granted by the Government to airmen and soldiers. The time is long overdue for the removal of this unjust anomaly. Carey J. Cariunoton,' President, Auckland Sailors' Home.