JAPAN AND THE WAR.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1514, 24 February 1916, Page 4

JAPAN AND THE WAR.

Discussing the part taken by Japan in the war, Baron Kato, former Japanese Ambassador in London, declared that Europe had little real idea of the services rendered to the cause of the allies in the Far East by the Japanese fleet. “Our warships,” said the baron, “were continually active in the waters before Vladivostok, around Chili, and around Australia. We convoyed the transports which brought over the Australian troops. It might have been hoped that we should have been represented also in the naval attack on the Dardanelles, but our experience at Tsingtao had convinced us that bombardment from the sea cannot result decisively unless accompanied by action on land, and as to that, apart from the difficulties in the way of transporting half a million Japanese troops to the spot, we should have had to explain to the people adequate cause for a breach of the Constitution, whereby the army is required to serve for the defence of the country itself. There was also the financial aspect to consider, for Japan would not have wished that the allies should defray the expenses, and, finally, it might be feared that the Japanese troops might not fight so well on the distant battlefield and in unfavourable conditions. Baro Kato, in conclusion, expressed his great satisfaction at seeing the relations between Japan and Russia becoming closer every day, and declared that Japan, in her alliance with Great Britain, had carried out, and would continue to carry out, all her obligations.