OUR EASTERN ALLY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3762, 9 April 1907, Page 3

OUR EASTERN ALLY.

The Slim Little Jap and Hie Morality.

An Aucklander’s Impression.

Mr H. R. Bloomfield returned home recently from a trip ot several months’ duration, spent in places of interest along the'Chinese seaboard, the islands of that corner of the Pacific, and the Empire of the Micado, Mr Bloomfield and his wife—for he was accompanied by Mrs Bloomfield—spending some little time of their tour in Dia Nippon. In the pourse of a conversation with an Auckland Star reporter concerning his visit to this last named-country Mr Bloomfield made it clear that he is not in love 1 with our sallowskinned allies. “As far as Europeans are concerned,” he remaiks, "they seem to be an excellent nation of thieves and spies. They will steal any mortal thing they can lay hands on, and have ,no more sense of moral obligation in the matter of meum and tuuni than if it never existed. Of course, it must not be forgotten, I, suppose, that as teachers of ethics the whites with whom. ...they have. largely come in contact/ hive not been high exponents —a little worse, for the most part; than the Jap himself, in fact. But, however that may be, : they are absolutely insincere to the Europeans—the Britisher, perhaps, to a very small extent, excepted—and that fact should make us equally distrustful of them ; as there is no doubt, they are of us, and treat them as an extremely dangerous quantity. They are suffering from swelled-head, of that there can be no doubt whatever, and their insolence to all Europeans/ except Britishers, up in their own quarters, is simply intolerable. The coolies brush white men and women from the footpath, and in their pleasant, smiling way, if you turn oh them, will apologise —and do it again. The only remedy is to do likewise.

“But that, obviously, is not always possible, so the best thing is, in my opinion; to give the Jap and his country a wide berth.” When Mr Bloomfield was up Hongkong way, excitement was running very high in anticipation of war between Japan and America. ‘ 4 l quite expected to hear upon reaching Australia that hostilities had commenced,” he remarked. 44 And notwithstanding the immensely over-rated estimation at which the little’ yellow man has been taken since his lucky terihination of the war with Russia. it was generally recognised that America would have no Chance against Japan’s fleet in her own waters. There were four big new battleships of the Virginia class at Hongkong when I was there, and a large flotilla of torpedo boat destroyers and other craft in Manila Harbour, but the Japs, are cautious, and if war did ensue they would have reckoned all the; odds beforehand, and Manila and other American ports would probably have dropped into their possession at a pretty quick rate,'; It would be just the same at the. .present time if Germany went to war with them, in spite of the anxiety of the Germans to have a slap at the Micado’s men.

“ But, as you can guess, that makes them more the easier to get on with, for they have begot such a vast confidence in themselves that they feel quite able to lick creation. ‘We beat Russia, the most powerful nation in the world,’ they say, * and we could therefore beat America or England, or any nation.’

“ How are they 'financially ?” — “ Why, you have only to go into the ciountry to see that it is bankrupt. The peasants are groaning under taxation, and in many places are almost in open revolt. The Government is trying all manner of means to raise the wind. Nationalising the railways, tramways, and several industries of the country is one method they have. In one place I visited the populace rose up* and endeavoured to wreck the tramways and other property belonging to the State. The inland peasants know very little about the aggrandising policy of the Micado’s advisers: and care less for it. It is in the interior, by the way, that you see the people at their best kindly, courteous, and comparatively trustworthy, a, different man altogether, is the inland Jap to his brother on the coast, demoralised by his halfdigested ideas about Western notions and innovations. The Westernised Jap is really a veneered savage, and just as treacherous to the veneerer as any savage you could find.

“ They have absolutely no scruples about accepting foreign charity. All this talk about the failure of the rice crops is absolute rot. The rice crops were never better, but they will take money at any price and by any means. If they see an easy way of getting it, so much the better for the Jap, according to their views.” “ The excitability of the Japanese is wonderful,” said Mr Bloomfield, in discussing this side of their character. ‘ ‘ Take a football match that took place between two Japanese Universities while I was there. We are pretty strenuous at football ourselves, but we are not a circumstance to these Japs when they get going with their blood up. After this particular match of which I am speaking, the combatants—for that is what it comes to — who had fought like little demons on the field, were to have a meeting in the evening, but the authorities forbade it, and it was considered a foregone conclusion that they would be at each ather’s throats before the night was .out, and probably a few of

them killed. If you get their blood up, they fight like dervishes. But in the ordinary way Monsieur le -Jap is a very small potato in the matter of courage unless backed by by numbers.”

‘ ‘ The cleanliness of this interesting nation is,” says Mr Bloomfield, “about as bankrupt as his credit. The nation reeks with disease, which is not to be wondered at when everyone in a house or hotel, whether he is afflicted with skin or other complaint, or sound and healthy, bathes in the same water. The national cleanliness is, in fact, a myth, and they themselves admit it who have become westernised sufficiently to recognise the value of hygiene.” “Their astonishing cleverness at imitating and improving upon an original pattern is, however, as remarkable as their dislike to part 4he secret of those impiovements to. outsiders. It is well known that the British .Government handed them the i plans of the Dreadnought, .and that in the Satsuma they .Evolved, an improvement on the original, Yet .when Britain asked Japan- in her turn- to disclose to us those improvements—' Oh. no J Those belpng -to . the Mikado !,’,,,. And tjiat.is just it. ..They jive..only.fQr the! Mikado, and they consider : no subterfuge too base in order that his work . may, be . accomplished and Japan’s power increase.”