AS WE STRIKE AN AMERICAN

Hokitika Guardian, 19 March 1928, Page 4

AS WE STRIKE AN AMERICAN

, (By FRANK H. HEDGES in the “ Christian Science Monitor.” ' At the close of a leisurely journey ' around the world that has taken me into most of the countries of Asia, of j northern Africa, and of Europe, 1 realise that the three outstanding impressions mado by my wanderings are: Dritisli control of nearly every strategic point in world commerce or world trade ( except in the New World ; the increasing prevalence of American culture in all lands; the dominance of the English language to-day and apparently in the future. If one takes ship at Yokohama or Kobe for London', the first port touched is Shanghai, a conglomeration of aii nationalities, hut a city in which the the British influence is unmistakably paramount. The next port is the city of Victoria on the island of Hongkong, a. British Grown colony. Only the American ships then go to the American port of Manila, and only the French vessels to the French port of Saigon. All other liners for Europe sail from the British Crown colony of Hongkong to tlio British Crown colony of Singapore, and then to the British Crown colony of Ceylon, with its lovely port at Colombo. The next stop is made at Aden, a hit of British soil at the entrance to the Red Sea, which is politically a part of the British Bombay Presidency. All boats must pause for at least a few minutes at the entrance to the British-controlled Suez canal and again | as they leave it at Port Said to enter j the Mediterranean. Some then touch J at Alexandria, and a British army still remains in Egypt, while others call at the British island of Malta. Marseilles, a French port, comes next, but British Gibraltar follows that, and then on through the Atlantic Ocean and up the Thames to London itself. It would be impossible to make this journey without gaining a new, deeper and broader conception of the British Empire and without respecting the energy and ability of the people of a little island off the coast of Europe ( who have builded this world dominion. ( Some individuals might find themselves greatly irritated as a consequence, but | it is more probable that they would find their unjustified grudge melting ( away and giving place to genuine ad- ( miration for the British people. For one who is in the least observant (

sees a great deal more than the red spots oil the map as he makes the trip. Wherever there is British rule he sees good roads, good streets and good traffic observance; he sees sanitary conditions which are frequently in striking and most pleasing contrast to the conditions near at hand, but just lieyomi the zone of British law; he- sees people working, but working happily, able to retain the fruits of their labour and to enjoy them in peace; he sees a colonial . government that is strict in its insistence on law and order, but that take into consideration tlio rights and the , peculiar susceptibilities of the peoples whom it governs; be sees, in a word. , conditions established and maintained . by the British that are the conditions 4 under which he himself would desire to live and do business. Great Britain . as a civilising, an educational, a sanif tary power, as a force for justice am • fair play, as a factor in the progress o.' . riie world, is immeasurable. , The boast that the sun never set:- | on the Union Jack may . annoy souk . persons. 1 cannot but believe that ? such annoyance springs from ignorance. • British government, either at home oi in the colonies, is far from perfect, but - it is so very much superior to dozens > of other types of government that are 1 displayed before the voyager around the world that he is compelled to' re- > move his bat in respect to it. He c reaches the conclusion that what Great r Britain lias given to the natives of f India, of China, of the -Malay States, i is very much what the United States t would have striven to give them if this i country had been placed in a similar r position, and he is prone to he proud r of the kinship of the British and the American peoples, to be tbankiul that i basically they are one and the same s r,mi her t linn to let little surface dilferi cnee loom as large as the most import- , : ant factor in determining his attitude I •towards Great Britain. > : Slowly the world traveller perceives ' tile reverse side of the problem of the British Umpire, reaches the realisation that British policy, both foreign and - domestic, is dictated from a world • standpoint. The United States oeca- ' Monally refers to its “splendid isola- - : tion,” although that isolation is rapid--1 It becoming a myth, but the British Umpire cannot possibly withdraw into its shell and say in substance, “You leave me alone and 1 shall return the compliment.” It lias no shell into " which it might withdraw.