JAPANESE CONSUL

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12393, 12 March 1926, Page 11

JAPANESE CONSUL

PEACE AND THE PACIFIC ' ON A VISIT TO DOMINION KNOW EACH OTHER BETTER Mr Iyemasa Tokugawa, ConsulGeneral tor Japan in Australia and New Zealand, whose headquarters are in Sydney, arrived in Wellington yesterday by the “Limited” express from Auckland, lie stated that he desired to express his sense of gratitude for what hai been done in Wellington, and, indeed, throughout New Zealand, in a very cordial way to the officers and men of the Japanese training ship lwate, which recently visited New Zealand. The captain, officers, cadets, and men carried away with them happy recollections of their stay in, these waters. “While in London,” said Mr Tokugawa, ‘I several times visited the Wembley Exhibition, and saw many of the products of New Zealand, which I thought were marvellous, so even before I came to New Zealand I knew something of, apd greatly admired, the products of your country.” s Mr Tokugawa explained that it was officially his duty to travel through the Commonwealth and the Dominion and make himself familiar with their trade and general conditions. Mr Iyemasa Tokugawa is, a son of Prince Tokugawa, one of the Japanese delegates at the Washington Peace Conference. He was in London before the war, and during the great conflict was principally in Japan and China, being for a time attached to the Japanese Legation at Peking. On the termination of hostilities, Mr Tokugawa again returned to London, where he occupied . the position of Counsellor to the Japanese Embassy until a year ago.

IMPORTANCE OF PACIFIC Mr Tokugawa said that since the war the Pacific had loomed large as 'the centre of world power, and he believed the tendency would be for it to 'grow more and more important. This was all the more reason why it was necessary for the nations bordering on the Pacifio to. nnite to gain greater knowledge of one another. Speaking of New Zealand, Mr Tokugawa said, he Was much impressed by the- splendid and progressive way things were being done here. Japan was a ’ new country as far as modern civilisation was concerned, and so were Australia and New Zealand. THE PEACE CONFERENCE

“As my father was one of the Japanese delegates to the Washington Conference of 1921,” said Mr Tokugawa, “and was partly responsible for the making of those treaties, it is needless to say that 1 look to the promotion df peace in that way, and the desire fob peace in. the Pacific can be said to be inherent in my family. 1 may addd that I was at Washington when those treaties were signed.”

The Pacifio had become, more important in world; problems; and it was a mistake for anyone to think of the separate grouping of powers among the nations -bordering, on- -the. Pacifie Ocean. All the nations concerned shpuld be determined to co-operate for the -promotion. and maintenance of peace an. this pdrt of the world.

The economic-conditions of the two countries, Japan and New Zealand, are to a very large extent complementary. The trade between them had not developed to a very lqrge extent, hut he hoped, as time went on, that the economic) conditions would enable them to interchange more and more those 1 articles which each best produced.

Mr Tokugawa alluded to the Pacifio Scientific Conference, to be held shortly in Japan, and expressed the opinion that such gatherings were, not only beneficial from a scientific point of view, but enabled the citizens of all the. countries participating to know each other. In the way of helping the cause of unity among all. the nations concerned, interchange of visits was' important, and the speaker added that he was always ready to do anything in his power to help forward the movement and ideals he had indicated. .Mr Tokugawa left for the south last Bight, and will visit the Exhibition.