THE ANTI-ASIATIC FEELING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 19

THE ANTI- ASIATIC FEELING.

[ RESTRICTION OP JAPANESE ; ' EMIGRATION. 1 POSSIBILK fOF WAR RIDICULED. LONDON, February 20. A Japanese memorandum handed to the ; American Ambassador at Tokio shows that the Government has agreed to a number of American suggestions in refer- , ence to the restriction of emigration to the United States. It states that the stoppage of the emigration of Japanese to Canada, Mexico, and Hawaii makes further American complaints impossible. NEW YORK, February 19. The American newspapers declare that the real question between the United States and Japan is not immigration, but whether Manchuria shall fall under Japanese control, and the open door be closed. February 20. j The Pilgrims Club banqueted Mr I Whitelaw Reid, American Ambassador to England, at New York on the eve of his return to London. Mr Reid ridiculed the sensational press nonsense- about Britain's obligations to sustain Japan in the event of a war against the United States. First, he said, there was not the ghost of a probability of any war with Japan ; secondly, the Anglo-Japanese Treaty simply provided that in the event oi any aggression on Japan's lecognised territorial rights in the East, Britain would sustain her. Only a lunatic could believe that the United States would cross the Pacific to try to rob one of her oldest and truest friends. Mr Reid referred to the stately procession, of warships, peacefully bearing the American flag around the western hemisphere, and recalling to America that its commanding position is not merely in the Atlantic, But in the Pacific Ocean, which is to carry the commerce of the twentieth century. SAN FRANCISCO, February 20. Californians are puzzled over an. extraordinary exodus homewards <5f able-bodied Japanese. A prominent Japanese explained that they had been recalled by the Mikado. The newspaper press all over the country is "urgently discussing the question of " the open door " in Manchuria. OTTAWA, February 20. Sir W. Laurier has ordered the release of two Japanese ■nho weie sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment under the Natal Act in British Columbia. VANCOUVER, February 22. The Anti-Asiatic party in Vancouver is becoming growingly excited, and threatens a huge parade of the streets. Riots are feared. Sir Wilfrid Laurier is awaiting the decision of the court, which is generally expected to declare the Natal Act unconstitutional, If the decision is otherwise the act will be disallowed owing to it conflicting with the Anglo-Japaujese

VICTORIA, February 24. The Chief Justice (Mr Hunter), at Vie* toria, British Columbia, declared that the Natal Act was inoperative as regards Japanese because it went against a, treaty.

An appeal to the Supreme Court and the Privy Council is foreshadowed. The act meanwhile cannot come into force.