PROBLEMS OF THE PACIFIC.

Shannon News, 27 September 1929, Page 4

PROBLEMS OF THE PACIFIC.

ISLAND RESOURCES OF THE WATER HEMISPHERE.

NEW ZEALAND A CENTRE OF INFLUENCE.

Largely as a result of the Great War, the Pacific has become the sphere of greatest interest. With its American, Asiatic and Australasian shores, it touches the most virile people ,on the planet. Its waste of waters dwarfs

the Atlantic in range, and is far larger than the land surface of the entire world. These facts were mentioned by the Rev. Win. Beckett by way of introduction to his lecture on "The Pacific," being the tenth in the series on "International Relations," before the Levin branch of the W.E.A. A summary is given below. THE PACIFIC INSTITUTE.

Some years ago there was formqd the Institute of Pacific Relations, with representatives from all the countries lapped by the waters of the Pacific. The first conference was held at Honolulu, in June and July, 1925, for thepurpose of strengthening the bonds of friendship between the peoples of the Pacific, through the personal acquaintance and fellowship of the delegates. The aim of the conference was to bring together accurate information on the conditions of the several countries which mould opinion and feeling to-

wards other people; to discuss those conditions, opinions and feelings, that their relations might be clearly apprehended, and to point the way to right actions, which would lead to understanding and peace in the Pacific. There was the recognition that the Pacific had become the great highway of travel and commerce, and there was the hope

that, ancient prejudices and hatreds, which had become historic on the con- . tinents of the Old World, might not mar the life of the New World. A better place for such a conference could hardly be imagined than Honolulu, where there dwelt together in goodwill people oil many tongues, colours and creeds, and where there was already a practical demonstration of the possibilitv of all nations dwelling together

in unity. New Zealanders have a live interest in these matters; Dr. Buck, of the Dominion's Native Medical .Department, and Prof. J. B. Condliffe, formerly of Canterbury University College, are carrying on research work In Honolulu in connection with the Institute. CONFERENCE NEXT MONTH.

On October 28th of this year, there will open in Kyoto, Japan, the third biennial conference of the Institute of

Pacific Relations. T.he_ sessions are scheduled to continue for twelve day 3.

For many months committees have been at work preparing the agenda, which is already a veiy lengthy one. It deals with food and population, land utilisation, control of raw materials, population controls, migration, etc. The conference will consider questions particularly concerning China, such as revision of treaties, financial reconstruction, and problems of the three eastern provinces. It will also deal with questions arising out of the economic development now going on in the Pacific, among these questions being tariffs, foreign investments, and industrialisation. Diplomatic relations in the Pacific will be t an important subject for the Conference; which will give consideration to League activities in the Pacific, existing treaties, war prevention policies, disarmament and security in the Pacific, the Latin-American policy of the United States, immigration exclusion, and other matters. The bare mention of these subjects conveys a bare idea of the vast importance of the Conference. THEATRE OF THE NEW WORLD.

Panama and Singapore are the two greats gateways of the Pacific, the ocean of the future. In the Canal Zone, the United States holds ‘ ’ 553 square miles of area. Opposite lies Singapore, an outpost of the British Dominion; much has been heard of this port owing to the construction 1 of a huge dock, capable of # taking in the largest battleship afloat. New Zealand is interested because she has contributed a million of money towards the cost of the dock, and feels the construction to be a valuable , aid to her security. Ships trading between the Pacific and other oceans must, pass through one or other of these two gateways or else make a roundabout and expensive journey. Singapore, then, is one of the critical centres of the world.

The Pacific is one of the great-? trade routes, destined to be still greatei*. New markets arc opening up on either side of the wide ocean, and the Gulf Stream of opportunity is creating new currents of enterprise. > Biitain, the United States, Prance and Holland have each important interests in this part of the New World. With the Panama Canal connecting the Pacific with the Atlantic and making a short cut to the Old World, lands once far apart'" have become relatively near; and its -bearing on Australian trade can hardly be over-estimated. The Canal shortens the trade route between New Zealand, and Western Europe by some nine hundred miles. It brings the eastern parts of the United States and Canada much nearer to New Zealand and Australia than those of England and Western Europe. A great increase of trade with Eastern America-has sprung up. The produce of China, Japan and the rest of the Orient is more readily and cheaply transported to Eastern America and Western Europe than in the

past. Scattered over the Pacific are many thousands of islands. There are 7000 in the Philippines alone, and 250 in the Fijian group. The Pacific is such an immense stretch of water that many thousands of miles, separate some islands. The character of the people and their customs are as various as the climates they inhabit. It has been said, “To spend one month on each of the 20,000 Pacifio islands, aE ex*

ploring ship, with a. group of' scientists, would require 16,000 years and about £20,000,000 to study their, ;geology, zoology, botany and ethnology. ISLANDS OF THE GREAT.''.OCEAN.

• Apart from Japan, the largest group J of islands in the Northern Pacific is l that of the Philippines. For 1800 years they have been bandied aboutruled or misruled by one people after another—-until we find’ them: like a waif, .dumped into America’s .back-, yard. Education has been undertaken,

roads have been made, parks laid but, hospitals, libraries and public institutions of many kinds have been promoted The literary rate has been raised more than 35 per. cent. The Filipino is quick to recognise and appreciate -all that has been done; yet he is cherishing a feeling of resentment because self-government is withheld. Away to the eastward, 20 degrees above-the Equator and midway between

New Zealand and Vancouver, are the Sandwich, or Hawaiian Islands. During the SpanishtAmerican War they were annexed to the United .States by a joint resolution of Congress, on July 7tli, 1898. Honolulu, the chief town, is a most popular port of call for the large. American steamers, and a place in which to spend an ideal winter-holi-day. The peculiar position of Hawaii, half-way between the East and the West, acts as a link between two var-

ied civilisation*. The Fiji Islands are centrally situated between various other groups, such as the Cook, Ellis, -Gilbert and Samoan Islands. The position of- Fiji is a strategical one. For trans-Pacifie passenjger traffic and( (for cpmmer#*, Suva, the capital, is on the main highway and is a regular port of call. In the group there is no abject poverty, no hunger urge, no unemployment. More than 1500 male Indians are independent cultivators and planters. The native Fijian supplies casual la.bour and produces copra in large quantities. There are 1000 Chinese in the group, and their quiet, steady enterprise is

being felt everywhere. They are the storekeepers, and they have mot only large and attractive shops at the main ports; but they have penetrated into the remotest parts of the Islands. Among the 171,000 people comprising the population of the group, 90,000 are of the native race; they have increased by over 5000 since the 1921 census. The Europeans, about 4300, include men and women born in some forty different countries, mostly within the British

Empire. The Indian population i 3 69,463, an increase 1 " of 8844 since the 1921 census. / CHRISTIANITY AND CIVILISATION There is now scarcely an island in all the Pacific where one may not land in perfect safety and be. assured of as hearty a welcome and as good treatment as he would receive among his own friends or his own countrymen.

When on the little island of Bau, once the residence of the king of Fiji, there was pointed out to Mr: Beckett, two years ago, the place where a vessel was wrecked. From this island went forth bloodthirsty savages, who killed and ate the unfortunates: who managed to reach the shore. In the old council chambers of the island is preserved the anchor of an . ill-fated ship, near-by which was the killing-stone, against which the brains of the poor victims were smashed. That killing-stone has now been transformed into a baptismal font in the Christian church on the is-

land. The past of the Pacific has been romantic enough from the European point of view. It was not blind chance which led that immortal boy, R. L. Stevenson,

to the South Seas. Though his eyesopened upon a bleaker land, his spirit was born in these warmer climes, and it was fitting that his soul should take its last and greatest leap from a Samoan mountain-top over the wind-swept reefs and restless ocean to its yet more natural home. A new Pacific has been born since the days of the “Blackbirders,” but their'memory has been kept alive in song and story around the camp fires and at village feasts. Action songs by little children are heard in Fiji, picturing the sudden onset- of the manstealer, the carrying away of loved father, mother, brother, sister, or friend, and the consequent weeping and .wadling and desolation; ther. the rejoicing at the good times that have now come.

NEW ZEALAND’S POSSESSIONS

There are many little islands in the Pacific in which New Zealanders have a special interest. . Among others there are the Auckland, Campbell and Antipodes Islands. On each (group of outlying islands the Dominion Government maintains a depot of provisions and clothing for the use of castaways.

The Kermadec Islands, four in number, with some outlying islets, were annexed to New Zealand by proclamation on July, 21st, 1887. The principal island, Sunday Island, is 600 miles from Auckland, and lies a little more than half-way to Tonga and 100 miles east of the direct steam route to that place. The Islands comprise a dotal acreage of 8208. The' soil is very rich, and there is great luxuriance and richness of vegetation. Want of water is one of the drawbacks. The Cook and other Islands were annexed in June, 1901. Rarotonga is 1638 miles from Auckland, and is the most fertile and valuable of the Cook Group of fifteen or more islands. Niue, or Savage Island, lies about 300 miles east of Tonga. Nauru, a little .phosphate island, about one-third of a degree south of the Equator, was until 1914 a German possession. It was garrisoned by Australian troops on. November 6th, 1914. The mandate is held jointly by the Imperial Government., Australia, and New Zealand. Shipments of phosphates tr the Dominion- from Nauru in 1928 amounted to 501,915 tons. The island is encircled by . a. road ten miles long, and has an area of between five and six thousand acres.

There is the Boss Dependency,, away south in the 60th degree of latitude. It was proclaimed a British settlement

in 1887, and is now under the jurisdiction of the Governor-General of New Zealand. The whale oil taken from its waters in 1927-28 was 124,000 barrels. The Government receives an annual payment of. £2OO in respect of each floating faetoryship, and a royalty of 2s ,6d per barrel of oil taken over and above 20,000 barrels. The royalty receipts for the season 1927-28 totalled £6977, in addition to the annual license fee of £200,. I The Tokelau or Union Group, the latest of the New Zealand dependencies, consist of three islands or groups of islets, with a total area of 2550 acres. They were transferred to the jurisdiction of New Zealand as'from February 11th, 1926, and are under the Administrator of Western Samoa. RESTLESS SAMOA.

Four large and many t smaller islands form the group known as Samoa. In_ 1878 the United States was given the' ' privilege of forming a naval and coaling station at Page Pago, in the island of Tutuila, much the best harbour in the group. Next year similar privi-leges-were granted to the other Powers —Germany at Saluafata and Britain at

a place to be. settled later. In 1899 an Anglo-German agreement gave Germany all rights over Western Samoa, and to the United States Tutuila and other islands of ; Eastern Samoa. The islands formerly held by Germany m the group are now administered by r the New Zealand Government under mandate of the League of Nations. The Samoa natives arc to a large extent granted domestic self-government. The Fono of Faipules (native Parliament of leading chiefs) meets twice yearly to" consider -matters affecting the, welfare of the- Samoan people and to submit recommendations thereon to the Administrator. There-has been much trouble in the territory of recent years. A Royal Commission proceeded to the Islands from New Zealand to inquire into complaints by certain Samoans, and residents other than Samoans, aS to the administrative methods . adopL ed. The- Commission found that the" important complaints *were baseless, and that existing conditions’were due to-the influence of • ambitious or dis-

gruntled persons and groups. The Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations'had the matter before them. They reviewed all the evidence collected by the Royal Commission and heard representatives of the New Zealand Government, but, under a ruling of the Council of the League, they refused audience to a representar tive of the majority of the Samoan people, who -presented himself. Tne Mandates Commission agreed, in general, with the findings of the Royal Commission. The unrest and defiance in: Samoa continue, and the; Mau —the Samoan organisation opposing the Government, and comprising the great majority of Samoans—seems as intractable* and has as much solidarity as ever.

ASIATIC PRESSURE. . Japan has made the (Marshall and Caroline Islands almost. .Asiatic, and her population is spreading into the American Philippine. Islands. The Chinese, unless held back, would automatically submerge the ‘original races in islands like the Samoan Group. Left to the untrammelled influence of purely natural forces, such as have operated in race migrations throughout history, there would be a great movement from Asia on to all the surrounding continents. California and British Columbia already have their Asiatic popur lations, and no. shipyards can be found in Peru or Chili without their Japanese artizans. The workers in New Zealand, as in Australia and Canada, are naturally anxious to maintain the present standard of living. : Asiatics are accustomed to work harder, for less wages, than a white man. They can under-live him and oust him from his place. The Asiatic claims the right to migrate. That claim, standing alone, might be resisted, but behind the claim lies the vast, heaped-up population, like stupendous tidal waters pressing against a frail dyke. To allow free Asiatic .immigration into -the territories now covered by the Whites around the Pacific, and to allow political representation in those territories, would submerge .Western civilisations. Yet to resist permanently the (pressure and will for expansion of a (thousand million of people is a task that has never yet been attempted, and it is one which no sane man would willingly confront if an alternative course lay open to him. The consideration, of all these things shows that we should make little of our differences and much of the things we have in common.