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Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2003, 12 February 1907, Page 1

THE SHADOW OF AUSTRALIA. THE MENACE OE ASIATIC DEVELOPMENT. Thero is (writes the Sydney correspondent of the London Daily Mail) a spreading shadow ovor Australia, and it is the shadow of a developing Asia . For there is a feeling, amounting with many to a conviction, that some day Japan, either alone or in league with a Japanisod China, intends to take the country, and then the fate of Korea to-day would be the fate of Australia to-morrow. AVhat that means Mr. McKenzie has recently stated in “The Tragedy of Korea.” It is all very well to say that Great Britain and Japan are allies, cordial allies, perhaps, and there is no reason to supposo that tho alliance will not be loyally observed. But during the next nine years much water will pas under’the bridges of diplomacy, and at the end of that time tile existing compact may not be renewed. Japan may lind it more profitable to treat with an alert and awakened China. There would be a sentimental, as well as a material, argument in favor of such an agreement. It would be a union of colored races, and this is an aspect which appears to bo only imperfectly understood at a distance. Australians, however, who are almost on tho spot, recognise tho gravity of a position which, in Europe, is discussed as a matter of remote,, academic interest, and they are accordingly afraid. Thus the shadow' daily grows. A Dash for Port Dai win.

Australia, it is to bo remembered, is within short steaming distance of the important cities of the Far Fast. The result is that Australian travellers go much to Japan, and they all come back with the same story of tho increasing contempt in which the white man is held there. This contempt has of late frequently found expression in actual ill-treatment of visiting Australians. No doubt the exclusion of Japanese from the Commonwealth is accountable for an added bitterness. But the sentiment of hestility is not confined to the case of Australians. All the evidence agrees that it is directed against the white race in. general, with Australians as tho special objects of dislike. The Japanese make no secret of their view that, owing to our Alien Immigration Restriction Act, they have something to wipe off the slate. To those who saw it there was no getting away from the significance of tho swashbuckling arrogance of the men —as distinguished from the commissioned officers, who were invariably suave and polite and correct —of the Japanese squadron _ which v isited Australia in .May. It is pos sable, of course, to take too much notice of a public-house saying, but the boast of a petty officer over a glass of beer may be quoted : “We ate,” he declared, in sobor, matter-of-fact tones, and in escellent English, “going to have this country.” To Australians, as a rule, the Imnerial navy has no place in the prospect. It seems to lie taken for granted that, when the time arrives, an arnjy corps would be landed while the British ships were still a thousand miles beyond the horizon. There would, it is oxpected, bo a sudden dash for Port Darwin, or, perhaps, for Brisbane or Sydney, just as there was three years ago for Port Arthur, anil the first announcement of the undertaking _would he the appearance of cruisers and transports in tho roadstead and the flying of deadly shells.

“The Manless Land!” But, apart altogether from the question of the avenging of real or imaginary wrongs, there is the menace of Asiatic development. All records go to show that there is a tendency for people to move from den-sely-populated to ’.h inly-populated countries. Senator Playford, Minister for Fedeial Defence, has put the situation plainly. “The landless men he told Parliament the other day,

'•will spill like water into tho ma iIcss land.’* There is, too, the .warning of President Roosevelt to. an Australian visitor at the White House: “Beware of keeping your Far North empty.” The emptiness of parts of Australia will be understood when it is said that the' Northern Territory, to which the warning of President Roosevelt particularly referred, contains abqufc 800 white persons, or one to every 700 square miles. On either side of this vast unoccupied space—in Queensland on the cast and in West Australia on the westare other great empty legions. And all tho time, just across the water, is a teeming Asia, which before long will have to find place for its overflowing millions. There is no “effective occupation” of Australia in the sense that international law requires, and individual Japanese lose no >pportrnity of reminding individual Australians of the circumstance. As yet official Japan lias not talked much about the matter, but it does not follow on that account that it has thought the less. Official Japan is not given to talk. There is a comfortable theory that Japan will prefer to develop on the Asiatic mainland rather than in tho south. But Australians, do not hold any such belief. Their idea, right or wrong, is that Korea and Manchuria will he given back to China, and that Japan will look for its aggrandisement to the magnificent distances and the great natural resources of Australia. It is worth noting, moreover, that this opinion is shared by Count Vay do Vava, a distinguished Austrian diplomatist, who lias just published a volume on his travels in Australia, China and Japan.

A Dramatic Incident. It is undeniable that the Japanese have. Australia under very close survey, and residents of Northern Queensland in particular have many stories of espionage to tell. But the most disquieting incident of all occurred at the time that Admiral Kamimura’s squadron was, visiting Australia, some! three or four years ago. It was when the ships were leaving Port Melbourne after a period of festivity and feting. The Admiral, instead of leading the wav along the usual channel out of Hobson’s Bay, suddenly put his helm hard over, and brought his fleet skilfully through treacherous water into a good deep patch right away from the ordinary navigated sections of the coast. The spot was seemingly under the muzzles of the most powerful guns in the Port Philip defences, but, as a matter of fact, it was tho only little stretch of water into wliivh vessels could go without the guns being able to reach them. Anywhere else the gunners could have shelled an enemy to destruction. Admiral Kaminuira, however, knew tho locality. Having reached what is known technically as “The Dead Water,” he drew up his squadron in order of battle, and the docks were cleared for action. Then the Australian officers of artillery gathered on the heights ashore saw with astonished eyes an hour’s manoeuvring and instructional drill, and their uneasiness was not diminished by the. accuracy with which the Japanese guns were trained on the vulnerable points. They were well aware, and so were the visitors, that if the ship’s guns had been shotted the batteries could not have fired a single effective round in reply. It may he. of course, that many coincidences have conspired to convey a wrong impression to the Australian mind as to the ambition of Japan. But it is certain at any rate, that should the trial ever come, Australians will not take it lying down. Before long they will have a little navy of their own, and this it has been determined to increase in size and efficiency as rapidly as circumstances will permit.

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