BOOKS OF TODAY

Wanganui Chronicle, 23 May 1949, Page 7

BOOKS OF TODAY

(By H.C.J.) Japan JAPAN . . . ENEMY OR ALLY? By W. Macmahon Ball (Cassell); pp. 240. With the growing menace of Russia on the Asiatic Continent what is to be done with Japan? Are the people of that country to be turned into enemies or into allies? These are the questions which the author asks, and he gives his own answers. They are interesting and they are not to be ignored. it is to be emphasised that the author knows his own mind, he writes with commendable restraint and clarity and reveals his richly stored and well trained mind by his literary style, which, in its way, is a model. He writes on this subject from firsthand knowledge, having been from March 1946 to September 1947 British Commonwealth member of the Four Power Allied Concil in Japan. That he should n °t have been continued in that oilice is regrettable and it may as well be stated here that the impression gained in Japan was that the termination of his tenure of ofiice in that land was brought about as a result of differences of opinion with Dr. Evatt. Whether this is a correct interpretation of the business I am, of course, unable to say.

The Russian representative on the F.P.A.C. got short shrift from the Americans in the occupation forces in Japan. With the difficulties looming up in Korea this was not surprising, but it appears to have meant the cutting out of the Four Powered Allied Council from any effective work. American views were adopted throughout seemingly and the occupation has become distinctly American. Policy has changed from repression to co-operation, but democratisation is a long job and results are not within sight. Indeed, American aid has been so delivered to Japan that it has resulted in the “Old Gang” being re-established in their positions. This the author concedes is difficult to avoid because of the dearth of leaders and the docility of the mass. The mass has turned Right, not Left, while while the Communist has remained active, willing to exploit any weakness in the situation. The liberalising elements are too weak and the forces of power and corruption—the two are seemingly married in unholy wedlock in Japan—too strong for the Occupation Administration to achieve much. The Japanese Administration is truly oriental in its attitude. It acquieses easily and takes orders readily, but pulls back in the shafts without revealing that action too openly. Macmahon Ball claims that the Old Order has not changed nor will it change and that it is wishful thinking to look lor results in the way of democratisation in less than say, 25 years. This is a reasonable enough view. In the beantime the author claims that financial and economic aid to Japan should be made conditional on progress being made not only in the matter of legislation but in the implementing of that legislation to bring about a more liberal condition of life in that country. This intimate deview by an able administrator who writes cleany and dispassionately, should be read by a who are interested in the future of the Pacific. What New Zealander is not?