CHRISTIAN GESTURE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 521, 26 November 1928, Page 1

CHRISTIAN GESTURE

SURPLUS WHEAT FOR STARVING CHINESE BETTER THAN NAVAL BASES! (Special to THE SUN) CHRISTCHURCH, To-day. A special opportunity Tor a magnificent gesture of goodwill in the Pacific offers now to New Zealand, in the opinion of Mr. J. E. Strachan, headmaster of the Rangiora High School and President of the Canterbury Progress League. In a letter to The Sun, Mr. Strachan suggests the Dominion’s present store of wheat that is beyond what is necessary to carry over till next harvest he shipped as a gift to the starving millions of China. “There is a surplus,” writes Mr. Strachan. 'Not much of it is in the hands of the farmers, but the millers are holding good stocks. Moreover, next year’s Australian crop will probably be a big one so that the New Zealand market at the opening of the new season is likely to be sluggish. In other words, our big supplies in band and in sight are embarrassing. We cannot profitably sell the wheat overseas. Why not give it away to China? “The idea is of course preposterous, and shows how little I know about economics. Those who believe in nothing beyond small profits and quick returns will doubtless read no further, but the Oriental world is waiting for a friendly gesture from the Christian nations of the West. It is not long since we, without turning a hair, allowed the Prime Minister, in our name, to give away a couple of millions for the Singapore Base. That is the kind of gesture the Orient is familiar with. Fo.r us, of course, it was a kind of insurance policy to preserve the peace in the Pacific. “I suggest that we try this other kind of insurance policy. It is cheaper anyway. “Those who know the Chinese best say that they are faithful friends who never forget a kindness. I am convinced that if we people of New Zealand were to buy up all the wheat that can be spared, and have it shipped off to starving China, such a dramatic act would have a profound effect upon the whole of the Oriental world, and would do more to ensure peace for the next 50 years in the Pacific than the establishment of half a dozen naval bases. “In fact, the Orient might even come to believe that we are a Christian nation.” Mr. Strachan is a close student of Pacific affairs, and was selected last year to represent New Zealand at the institute of Pacific Relations Conference and the Pan-Pacific Congress at Honolulu. Illness prevented his attending, but subsequently he visited Hawaii and the United States privately, studying particularly Pacific