JAPAN AND MEXICO

Hokitika Guardian, 15 November 1924, Page 1

JAPAN AND MEXICO

COLONISATION DRKAM

SAN FRANCISCO. Oct. 11

According to an inspired dispatch from Washington to Sail Francisco, Japan is once more dreaming ol colonising .Mexico, and it is said that angered and humiliated through the provisions of the new Immigration Act. which effectively blocks further immigration into the Foiled States, continually on the diplomatic deleiicc as a result of her efforts to colonise Ainn- < hiirin and .secure an impiiegiiahle foothold on the Asiatic mainland. and against a stone wall in disposing of her surplus poulation. Tokio again is seeking “a place in the sun” for her human overflow.

That Ja|::in. through events of flic past year, has once more been forced lo seek a feasible colonisation scheme in .Mexico, horn me known in Washington when Kliehi Kimura. (ounsellor of the Japanese Kinbassy there, left nn an extensive trip through .Mexico that would carry him to every part that country.

Kimura's mission, il was said, would lie to discover some way in which a successful Japanese experimental colony might lie set up in Northern Alexir:i. a problem that is still unsolved, despite the fact that Japanese attaches of the Tokyo Government have made innumerable trips into .Mexico to study. Although .Mexico has an Immigration Act. which follows Hie general lines of (he American Ait, which excludes Chinese “coolie’ or labouring classes, there is no liar to Japanese immigration at present. Japanese immigration has never been a success there, however. because of the great mass ol Atoxic an cheap labour with which the Japanese have been unable to compete'. At present there are approximately only :i1)99 Japanese in the entire country.

Lenten by the natural conditions existing there, Japan some time ago apparently gave up her her ambit ion to make Northern Mexico a “dumping ground” for her stiplus population, hut as a result of the hostility against Japanese immigration that has manifested itself in various parts of the world, the Japanese have apparently been forced to again east a calculating eve on Mexico.

Japan made a distinctly friendly gesture towards Mexico City when it instituted inquiries concerning purchasing needed supplies there instead of in the Knifed States at the time the' anti-American biyeolt was being agitated, following the Kxelusiou Act. and in Washington it is believed the lime is now ripe for another diplomatic foray with a Tokyo-suhsidi-ed colony somewhere in Northern .Mexico as the ultimate object.