AN AUSTRALIAN VIEW.

Colonist, Volume XLVI, Issue 10918, 8 January 1904, Page 2

AN AUSTRALIAN VIEW.

Melbourne, January f . Mr Crouch, a member- cf tin* federal Parliament, declared that if Fapan were victorious in a warmth Jnssia, it would imperil a White Australia, and might pave the way ;o an Oriental dominance m the Southern seas. He said that during ■, ;he recent visit of the Japanese warihips the officers became acquainted vfth the weakness of Australian iefence. He asserted that one of the nsitors told an officer something frith regard to a fort which was regarded as a strict official secret. ' Sir Malcolm McEachern, the Japanese Consul, discredits Mr Drqnch's statements, and says that i Russian triumph was more Jj*ely id injure* British prestige in India md throughout the East, afld therefore more likely to menace Australia. He was not aware that there were any secrets about Australian forts. Even if a Japanese official did learn one, he wa3 extremely unlikely to reveal the fact.