JAPAN'S NAVAL POWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 805, 28 October 1929, Page 9

JAPAN'S NAVAL POWER

WOULD AMAZE WESTERN WORLD GREAT CRUISER STRENGTH (United P.A. —By Telegraph Copyright) VANCOUVER, Sunday. Japan’s naval and military preparations would astound the Western world, according to Mr. Frederick Palmer, a noted American war correspondent, who has returned from a tour of Japan, Korea, Manchuria and the Philippines. ‘‘The amazing change to me from what I saw' on my former visit was the growth of Japan’s industrial and militarypporer.w r er. The naval programme, in face of all the talk to the contrary, makes her plan of defence a real offensive in distant waters. “Japan could take the Philippines in a fortnight, such is her present cruiser strength. She could sweep the American flag off the Pacific by commerce-destroying raids. The British might sufcier the same fate if Britain should heve her naval movements through the Mediterranean interrupted.” Mr. Palmer says he thinks it will be a long time before China becomes a republic in anything but name. As all the Chinese have now heard the Gospel, Mr. Palmer asks if it would not be a fair question to consider withdrawing missionaries. He advises that a commission of business men should investigate the actual results of the mission funds spent in the Orient.