THE PACIFIC ARENA.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 August 1933, Page 6

THE PACIFIC ARENA.

The deliberations of the Institute of Pacific Relations at Banff have been brought to .a conclusion by a thoughtful contribution from New Zealand’s delegate, Mr. W. Downie Stewart. Mr. Stewart suggests that the Institute might well have discussed the present feverish building of battleships on both sides of the Pacific Ocean with a view to anticipating and preventing developments of a more serious nature. This is a matter of vital interest to New Zealand, and Mr. Stewart’s suggestion is one to be commended. The two nations chiefly interested in the Pacific arena are the United States bn the one hand, and the no less powerful Japan on the other. The mutual distrust between these two nations, which was openly manifest some years ago, is not so apparent to-day, but it is a deep-seated feeling, and is capable of being roused at the least provocation. New Zealand on account of her size and isolation is somewhat of a spectator of developments in the Pacific, but should hostilities break out she might easily become intimately embroiled. Mr. Stewart is optimistic enough to think that prospects of conflict are not as serious in the Pacific as they are in the Old World, but it is no use being wise after the event. Far better to kill the germ in its infancy than allow it to develop into a virulent disease. Hitherto the activities of the Institute have been chiefly confined to the elucidation of economic and social problems, but it is difficult to divorce these from their martial associations. The international

boiler has no more efficient safety valve than the gentle art of diplomacy and discussion pursued with judgment and with goodwill.