Page 3 Advertisements Column 3

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 89, 21 May 1914, Page 3

In the opinion of Mr David Blair, a Melbourne business man, who returned from a visit to Japan recently, the Japanese are complaining very bitterly of the burden of taxation which at the present time is pressing hardest on the poorer classes. The naval scandals, also, Mr Blair says, have created a feeling of great unrest, and there is evidence of a widespread and earnest desire for more democratic government. Concerning the possibility of Japanese sovereignty over the Philippines, in response to a recent invitation made to that effect by a prominent Filipino, Teodora Acosta, Mr Blair said that in present political conditions he thought it would be a calamitous mistake if America stopped in any way the good work of civilisation which she had achieved in the government of .the islands. And Japan? Well, for the time being Japan had quite as much as she could conveniently attend to«