POWER OF JAPAN.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 September 1920, Page 8

POWER OF JAPAN.

j NEW ZEALANDER IMPRESSED. i OPULENT JAVA. Out of the, teeming East comes all | the wisdom oif the ages, and its fascination to the traveller never fails. Amongst those who have recently had the privilege of visiting places of inter- | est in the East is Mr. W. B. Lees, manager for Bing, Harris and Co., in Wellington. He, with Mr. Walter Reid, of Wellington, recently visited the PhilipI pines, Japan, China, the Malay States, I and Java, returning by way of Western Australia. As in the case of other recent New Zealand visitors to the East, Mr. Lees returns profoundly impressed not only with the present power of Japan, but with the enormous virility of the race. Children are welcomed there, and swarm everywhere; not full, yellow-faced ones, but ruddy, almost russet skinned, and all lively and quick and strong. The schools carry on the good work by giving the children plenty of healthy physical exercise in the open air. The boys are taught to endure, they are fashioned to hardihood as part of their training in patriotism. The visitors frequently saw banners flying in school-grounds, which took the fanciful form of a fish. On inquiry, they were told that the fish represented by the banner was the enrp, and that was chosen because when the carp was taken out of the water and cut up, it submitted quietly to its fate. This was rather different to the British idea, which as a rule favored fighting to the last breath. Perhaps 1 the carp symbol wa3 a reflection of" the fntalism of the East. OLNY ORGANISED NATION IN THE EAST. Japan was undoubtedly the rnly organised nation in tho East, said Mr. Lees, and it was pushing in peacefully, yet aggressively everywhere. "One of the first .things I did on reaching Nagasaki was to present my credentials at the bank. The man who took my papers was a Japanese, but the cashier who paid out the money was a Chinaman. It was so all through the big commercial banking houses in Japan—the compradors, men who handled the money were Chinamen, almost without exception. ' Anyone was free to draw what inference they liked from that fact. Besides, you never know what a Japanese is thinking—lie is subtle and uueonfiding. England, .of all foreign countries is still top dog in China, hut tho Japanese are pushing in on all sides, and are getting a hold ou the country, which is very much upset owing to the continual fighting between the North and South. At present, however, the Chinese generally are boycotting'Japaneso goods. SINGAPORE. Mr. and Mrs. Lee at length reached Singapore, which they regarded as a charming spot. There they had the pleasure of riding for miles on perfect roads through avenues of rubber trees, portions of huge rubber plantation;-, which in the main were owned by Chinese companies. The Chinaman was the opulent business .man of the East, and on the Bund (Singapore) he was to be seen daily sporting the smartest and ! most expensive American cars. There at the Hotel Europe, Mr. Lees saw the Sultan of Johore, who was a great sport and exceedingly popular with all. Tliey went out to Woodlands, and then crossed the narrow strait to the mainland. Two or three miles inland stood the Royal Palace of the Sultan, am! not far away a very fine school (conducted by an Australian) overlooking the Btrait RICHEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. Java they found to be a country full of interest. There are not many Em: lish there. The Dutch and the Chin.--' control most of the trade. Both made such immense fortunes out of sugar <ii; ing and since the war that they had money to burn." Java was almost the richest country in the world. It bad a wonderful rainfall—better even than New Zealand—and this made possible the intense cultivation that was carried on all over the island. Mr. Lees was informed that there was only one other country richer than Java. That was Sumatra, but it was not nearly so well populated or developed as Java. Besides such highly payable commodities as sugar, rice, rubber, and spices, Java had a monopoly of quinine (made from the hark of the cinchona tree, which grows in the hilly districts). ■ Then they were going in largely for tea-planting and 'lobaccoj growing.