MANCHURIAN CRISIS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 85, 7 October 1931, Page 7

MANCHURIAN CRISIS

ECONOMIC CAUSES

JAPAN'S INTERESTS

NEED FOR STABLE RULE

In his characteristically lucid style, Dr. Guy Scholefield, Parliamentary Librarian,'gave members of the Wellington Eotary Club, at the weekly luncheon yesterday, a clear understanding of the cause of tho triangular international crisis that has arisen with regard to Manchuria between Japan, China, and Russia. Dr. Scholefield referred to the immense commercial interests Japan has built up in Manchuria within the last quarter of a century, and said it was easily understandable that she should wish to see that stable government was maintained in the country, although sho had no wish to assume its sovereignty. Dr. Scholefleld asked his listeners to imagine that on the wall before them was a map of tho Northern Hemisphere, and he drew attention, to Manchuria's geographical position at the south-east-ern end of Siberia, and within a few hundred miles of Japan. Until about the beginning of this century, he said, Manchuria was almost an empty country, and its area, about three times that of New Zealand. Its resources were unknown, and the countries nearby wore not in a position to develop it. Japan and China were wrapped up in their own affairs, and tho first approach to it was by Russia, through Siberia. Russia's ideas were economic, not political. She had been blocked by European countries from obtaining a warmwater seaport to the west. During the last twenty years of the nineteenth century the Tsars pushed the transSiberian railway further east until eventually tho terminus was leached at Vladivostoek. Though not entirely ice-free, Vladivostoek was open throughout the year. RUSSIAN EXPANSION. At this stage Japan took no alarm. She had commenced to adopt western ideas from about 1868, and she had so far not fully adapted herself to tho altered conditions. For about 400 years Japanese had not been allowed to go abroad, and had been forbidden to build foreign-going vessels. No sooner had the Russians reached Vladivostock than they commenced to build a branch railway line southward to Manchuria, where a warm-water port was to be obtained. The objective was soon reached, but about this time Japan began to feel the effects of her large population upon her own resources, and realised that Russia was a competitor with whom she would have to deal. It was against all preconceived ideas at that time for a western nation to listen to an Asiatic country's requests, and when Russia ignored Japan's representations, tho latter country decided to use force. The result of the Russo-Japanese "War in 1905 was a quick and decisive defeat of the Russians, owing largely to the distance of the theatre of war from Russian headquarters. Tho outcome was that Russian interests in Manchuria were taken over by the Japanese; who commenced to open up the tremendous resources of the country. $ Dr. Scholefleld dwelt briefly upon the riches that were awaiting development in Manchuria. There wero millions of tons of coal which did not even require mining, a rich soil, and a climate which, although possessing a severe winter, had a. summer which enabled wheat and other crops to bo ripened within a few months. Elated by her success in the war, Japan sot out to derive from Manchuria the raw products which she required to keep her people in employment and fed. She still, however, did not seek a colony, and to this day only about a quarter of a million Japanese live outside their own country. The comparative few who went to Manchux'ia went there as managers, and the necessary labour was brought in from China. PHENOMENAL IMMIGRATION. The migration that took place was without equal in any other part of the world. Within six years millions of Chinese had gone to Manchuria, one million migrating in a single year. A treaty with China enabled Japan to push her development work on more quickly, and Port Arthur was taken ovor and made into a free port. The Chinese Eastern Railway was taken over from Russia, and at present has a capital of about forty million pounds. It is more than a railway company, as its activities embrace all forms of colonisation. Since Japan stepped into Manchuria, 28 ports have been established, and all but four of them by the Japanese. It was evident, therefore, that Japan would require a big say in the administration of Manchuria, especially as the Chinese administration was not as efficient as might have been desired. There are now eighty-soven million acres of land under cultivation in Manchuria, and millions1 of tons of wheat, millet, and other products are grown annually. At first the wheat was exported, but now there are many mills where about 15 million sacks of flour are produced annually. "These figures," said Dr. Scholefield, "make the cxpension of Canada and Australia seem childish by comparison." Manchuria, he continued, was a colony of Japan's economically, but 95 per cent, of its population were Chinese, and the Japanese had no desire lo take over the sovereignty, having given an assurance to the League of Nations and to China to that effect. What they wanted was a guarantee of stable conditions, and their grievance against China was that her administration was inefficient. "China," said the speaker, "is one country in tho world to-day deserving of our sympathies. She has only recently awakened from her mediaeval life, and it would be strange if she could manage the country satisfactorily. The position is very like that in South Africa .when the Boers were governing a country which was being developed by British capital. Japan has also to meet difficulties arising from the presence in Manchuria of exiled Whites and Rod agents from Soviet Russia."