NATIONAL POLICY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 675, 30 October 1933, Page 7

NATIONAL POLICY

PACIFIC MANDATCS ]

■o | CONSIDERED ESSENTIAL FOR j SECURITY OF JAPAN. . I RUMjOURF. OF FORTIFICATION, j i The deeision of the Inner Cabinet j at Tokyo to formulaite a national poliey for "the period of emergency" which confronts Japan has, according t0 the cabled news on the subjeet, special relation to the question of her Paeific anlandates. The cabled mes- ' sage from Tokyo says, in part. "The thesis of the Army and Navy leaders (who control national policy) is that the period culminating in 1935 contains so many risks that Japan must prepare for war, since her deparsture from the League of Nations will beconie definite that year, and the question of her South Seas mandates, which the Navy declares are essential for Japan's security, will then arise." At the time of the crisis at Geneva over Japan's poliey of ag'gression in China and her seizure of Manchuria, resulting in her withdrawal from the League, the question of mandat: s arose, and the Japanese claim to the right to retain them was strongly put forward by her spokesmen. It can he taken for granted that an attempt by the League in 1935 to deprive Japan of the islands she now holds under mandate in the Paeific will be resisted with the utmost vigour. The Mandated Groups. Under the Treaty of Yersailles Japan was appointed mandatory to the former German possessions north of the equator. These include the Marianna (or Ladrone) Islands, the Caroline Islands, and the Marshall Islands. The Marianna Islands in 1899 (with the exception of Guam, the largest, cedcd to the United States in 1898) passed from Spanish to German possession for the payment of £840,000. Sepan is the seat of Government. At the end of 1930 the Japanese population was about 20,000 and the native population about 50,000. The northern group is volcanic and uninhabiLd. The Caroline Islands consist of about 549 coral islets, Ponape, Yiap and Parao, carrying the bulk of the i population, mainly of Malay origin, j with some Chinese and Japanese. The | chief export is copra. For adminis- j trative purposes the islands were di- j vidtd into two groups: (a) the East- 1 ern Carolines, with Truk and Ponape as administrate centres. Truk in 1930 | had roughly 1000 Japanese and 15,000 natives, Ponape about 700 Japanese and 8000 natives. (b) The Western Carolines, with Palan and Yap as administrativs centres. There were in Palan (1930) just over 2000 Japanese ahd 000 natives, and in Yap only 50 Japanese and G500 natives. The Marshall Islands consist of two chains of lagoon islands (some uninhabited) known respectively as Ratack (13 islands) and Ralick (11 islands). The group first came under German rule in 1885. The population in 1930 comprised 335 Japanese, about 9000 natives and a handful of foreigners. Administration is centred in Jaluit. There are 13 primary schools for Japanese and 23 for natives. It is not diffieult to see why. these possessions, taking into consid.ration their position and the harbourage faeilitities uffered hy their nature, are considered by the navy "essential for Japan's security."

"Activities" in Bonins. Apart from the mandated territories, special interest attaches to the ! Bonin Islands. The important thing j to remember about this group is that : they are not mandated, Japan owns j them. The Bonin Islands were added ' to Japan in the 16th century. Fitful | communication with Japan was car- j ried on for the next 200 years. The ] British flag was hoisted thtre in 1830, j but in 1861 Great Britain renounced ! all claim to the islands in favour of ! Japan. A few weeks ago it was stated that definite evidence was available that constructional lactivities, the nature of which was not known, were being carried on in the group, but there was no proof that Japan was violating- her treaty ohligations (under article 19 of the Four Power Naval Treaty ( hinding the British, Japanese and Americans to non-forification of speeified territorks). At the time of the above-mentioned report, however, it was said that official quarters were not alarmed, because it was considered that Japan was not likely to do anything to prejudice the clauscs of treateies designed to prevent an Ame-rican-Japane.se confiict.. But one fact of significance was that the Anglican Bishop of South Tokyo (Dr. Heaslett) had been excluded from the Bonins, ' where he made periodical visits to numerous Japanese Christians. As a result of his efforts the Bonins had jbeen included in Japanese religious jurisdiction. ■ An article was published in The Times (London) in which "a well-m-formed correspondent" declared that the fact that the Bishop was forbidden to visit the Bonin Islands (between Japan and the mandated Caroline Islands) because it was a fortified area, explained current rumours about Japan fortifying her mandated territories. Have Fine Harbour. "The Bonins are not mandated, but they nare now so precious that for'eign eeclesiastics cannot land on their shores," says the correspondent. "They were neglected until 1918, but, after the war, when Americo-Japan-ese relations were not over-cordial, the Japanese investigated their naval and miilitary possihilities. . '"The islands have a fine harbour, and are of obvious strategic value, because, in the event of Japanese hostilitles with a strong na.val power threatening Japan's eastern mandates,

the fortification of the Bonins would prevent the enemy's using this important aclvanced base. i"The value of this base for longrange aircraft and, suhmarine reconi naissance is equally manifest." • The prohibition of the Bishop's visit 1 might suggest that the rumour that the Bonins have been converted' into a naval air base is founded on fact, . adds the paper. j It is also possible that the Japanese wish to prevent foreigners from watching tactical naval exercises or studying the transformation of Port Lloyd into a commercial airport.