Evening Post. SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 1911. EDUCATING, IMPERIALLY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 94, 22 April 1911, Page 4

Evening Post. SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 1911. EDUCATING, IMPERIALLY.

The second number of the Round Table, which has just come to hand, fully bears out the high promise of the first. A prefatory note, which summarises the fuller exposition of the objects and ideals of -the promoters contained in the, first number, described the magazine as "a co-operative enterprise, conducted by people who dwell in all parts of the British Empire. Their aim is to publish once a quarter a comprehensive review of Imperial politics, entirely free from the bias of local party i&sues." Canada and South Africa were well represented in the first number, and the promise that Australia and New Zealand would also be provided for" is now fulfilled. "The Australian Situation" is summed up in an article_ of twelve pages, and a survey of "New Zealand — History and Politics" runs to double that length. The editorial statement that "the affairs of the Round Table in each portion of the Empire are in the sole charge of local residents, who are also responsible for all articles on \he> politics of their own country," is confirmed by a perusal of these articles. They have evidently not been made up in London. Both articles faithfully present the local atmosphere and the local standpoint, while keeping laudably clear of the local partisanship which the editor has expressed his determination to exclude. The New Zealand article i suffers from the attempt to include too much. The result is a degree of condensation which gives it a somewhat elementary, sketchy, and arid character. What else was possible in an article which starts with Tasmaa, in 1642, and covers all the ground down to the Defence Conference and Lord Kitchener's scheme? Nev-ertheless, this rapid and comprehensive summary strikes us as both accurate and lucid, and it is calculated to prove highly instructive to readers outside of New Zealand, for whose benefit it is, of course, principally intended. The .general attitude of the country towards the Imperial problem could hardly be better put than it is in the concluding paragraphs. New Zealand, says the- writer, "has now begun to feel the impulse to shoulder some of the responsibilities every people must bear on its way to develop nationality, and this impulse, we believe with Lord Milner, is even stronger in the people than in the politicians." This is correct, but we hojje that after Sir Joseph Ward's singular plunge at Sydney the politicians may take their proper place ra the van. We are pleased to see that the question of Asiatic immigration is touched, both in the Australian and in the New Zealand articles, with perfect frankness and yet with sobriety and responsibility. The Australian writer testifies to what is " practically a unanimous demand for a ' White Australia.' " The New Zealand writer beare similar testimony for .this country, and speculates as to the position of thisi country in the event of a war between Japan and the United States. These references to the Yellow Peril from the lands which have most to fear from it provide an admirable setting for the article on "The AngloJapanese Affiance," which is the principal feature of the present number. It is long since we read a more masterly contribution to Imperial politics, and it is of euch special concern for Australia and New Zealand that we should be glad to see it scattered 1 broadcast over both countries.. The whole history of this alliance from its inception, the full text of both treaties, the vital effect which the alliance has had upon Tin par! a 1 policy and world politics, and the extraordinary gravity of the issues which will be raised by the expiry of the present treaty in 1915, are handled in a way that must rivet the attention of even the most thoughtless reader. To review even the main conclusions of this striking article is impossible within the limits of the space now available, but we shall be glad to do so on some future occasion. Meanwhile, we may briefly mention two of the principal points. On the one hand, the resolute determination of the selfgoverning colonies to repel at all hazards the tide of Asiatic immigration is recognised and justified. "There is not the slightest doubt," says; the writer, "that -the objection of Anglo-Saxon communities to Asiatic immigration applies to all .classes of Asiatics, if they come as permanent residents. The basis of the objection is not shallow prejudice, but a doep'rootad instinct of self-preaacvKtien." On the other hand, thg en#rg-depettcLeao«

of British power in the Pacific upon the goodwill of Japan and the adjustment of the defence of the United Kingdom itself to the same condition, is strikinglyevidenced by the following table, which ehowe how the British battleships have been disposed before and since the signing of the first treaty with Japan : — DISPOSITION OF BRITISH BATTLESHIPS. Home FarEaet. Mediterranean. Waters. 1903 ... 5 14 16 1910 ... — 6 33 Is it to King George's Navy or to that of the Mikado that Australia and New Zealand owe their ability to keep themselves white? And will the Mikado continue to protect them aftet 1915? And if not, who willt