A WORLD TOUR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23224, 23 June 1937, Page 7

A WORLD TOUR

ITS HISTORICAL ASPECTS ADDRESS BY DR E. N. MERRINGTON The historical aspects of his recent tour through America, the United Kingdom and the Continent were recounted by Dr E. N. Merrington, master of Knox College, in an address before the Otago Historical Society at the Museum last evening. The chair was occupied by Dr J. R. Elder. An historical atmosphere had been encountered at the very outset of his travels, Dr Merrington said, as, on leaving Auckland and commencing the journey across the Pacific Ocean, he had thought of the voyagings of Abel Tasman and Captain Cook, the latter sailing this way and that way in his endeavours to prove that there was no vast continent reaching down to Antarctica, as was popularly believed at that time. The speaker had been very much struck by the growth of a new Polynesia. He had found when he reached the conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations at Yosemite, in California, that the Eastern Pacific and the Western Pacific were to the fore in all discussions, and he had taken occasion to remind the delegates that there was also the South Pacific. He was satisfied that the future would reveal the importance of this as the young and vigorous nations of Australia and New Zealand developed. As he had approached America he had thought of Sir Francis Drake, Cook and Vancouver, who had sailed those seas so long ago. He had thought also of the strange mixture of races that had come to America to form its present peoplo —the great Spanish influence, the Mexicans, the British and the French. The west coast of America he considered to be one of the most interesting countries in the world. At the time of his arrival the jubilee of Vancouver was being celebrated. He had been there in 1905, when the population of the city was 40.000. and it now stood at. 340,000. He went on to describe the country through which he had passed, and referred to his trip through Seattle and Portland to California.

The growth of the United States was the subject of some comment by the speaker, who pointed out that originally there had been but 13 States when the union was accomplished. In 1783 the great Middle West had been ceded to America by Great Britain: in 1803 Louisiana had been purchased from France; in 1819 Florida had been bought from Spain, and in 1845 a large slice of Mexican territory (Texas) had been annexed. Later Oregon had been ceded by Britain and California by Mexico. This had represented an enormous expansion, but it had not stopped there, for in 1867 Alaska had been purchased from Russia, and since then the United States had taken over Guam, the Philippine Islands, Hawaii, and other Pacific islands. If America were to be consistent in its interest in world affairs, Dr Merrington remarked, and in the safeguarding of its own interests, it should not follow a policy of isolationism.

The speaker dealt briefly with universities he had visited in various parts of America, and also described San Francisco, Monterey, the old Spanish capital, and some of the old Spanish missions in that part of the country. Coming to the conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations, Dr Merrington first gave a brief description of Yosemite National Park, where the delegates met. The actual matters dealt with by the conference, he said, were 100 vast to be recapitulated, the most crucial problems discussed being the Sino-Japanese situation. It was evident from the first that Japan was on the defensive. Important facts which had emerged were the effects of the Japanese economic and political expansion and the question when and where it was to stop. There had also come into prominence the remarkable renaissance of China. The delegates from this country had talked as people who knew what thev wore talking about when they said that if Japan continued to encroach on China and Ihreaten its integrity. China would resist as that nation had never before been able to resist. This, Dr Merrington continued, could not have been without its effect on the Japanese, who seemed less willing now to adopt an aggressive attitude than before. This was something for which we, in this part of the world, could be profoundly' thankful.

The two Russian delegates to the conference had given a remarkable account of Russian development and the country's preoccupation with its own affairs. The Soviet, they had contended, had enough to do looking after its own people and finding work for them without bothering about aggressive designs. In regard to the contention that Russia was trying to force its political system into China and Japan, one of the delegates had said that " Communism was not an exportable commodity." Passjng from the conference, Dr Merrington briefly described his visit to Eastern America and his arrival in New England. He dealt at some length with the tercentenary celebrations of Harvard University, at which lie was a delegate, and then went on to speak of his visit to England. In conclusion, he gave a graphic description of the tense days England experienced just prior to the abdication of King Edward VIII. At the conclusion of the address. Dr Merrington was accorded a vote of thanks.