Japan's Task After Peace.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7955, 19 October 1905, Page 2

Japan's Task After Peace.

—oJ'T'J'rilE or KOfiEA AXIJ JIAXOIIUiTA. Tii a recent numlior of the Outlook ai\ interest ng article appears from Loutvt Okjuma, ex-Premier a-nd leader of Ihu Japanese Opposition, dealing with "Japan's Task after Peace." Count Okuma holds that for Ihe piacircali solution of the Korean and 1 Maichurian problem the time has ari\m*li l.loth are cetaty'atwl for friiiliiy so jj H . JP( j a fiouriKhing agriculture. Together they tiro ampcapable of covering J-apan's food deficit. 'lHiey will produce still more when agricultural machinery is employed and better means of transput 'am provided. Add the factor of. Japanese immigration, if it is guided tlvithvr, and it seems beyond doubt that a great economic awakening in theso lands *wst take place. Again,! Korea and "Manchuria arc rich in raw material, although neither, standing «vlone, could become a ma'nufacturing Centre. f l#he Japanese must, t horefore, h>ok to d'rawi over raw i supplies from those countries, and io, send them t heir finished products in j return. Mamchuria ofTer.s also a most promising field for 'beetroot-sugar production. The climate resembles that of Germany, more or less, and there -is no reason why a crop which thrives to such purpose in (lerniany should not come out well -in Man-] churia. (hit the profit from this cultivation would be enormously to the advantage, not only in Manchuria itself, but also in Japan. The Japanese consumption ofsugarivas already _ risen in an extraordinary manner. They already need more than 1200,. 000 tons annually, and may easily require a supply of half a million tons within a few years.

The growth of the Japanese demand for woollen goods is particti-| larly marked. They import the rarc» material of this manufacture to 114 value i:f ten million yen. In the fu-1 Hire they should be able to procure their raw woo) from Manchuria, and I to create there in return -a rich lnar-j hot for the finished -article. To sun* up, the prospects 'are attractive anil: promising 'in a high degree. In t-hoj b.owels of the Moncluiriau so. : l lie deposits of coal, silver, and gold, and, an excellent perspective (opens to inining eivtiorpris'o3. j I'lider all circumstances, the prin-! cipal of the "open door" must toe guaranteed, and !io one knows who- 1 ther the policy of the "open door" i» Manchuria may not ultimately prove profitable to Russia herself and of assistance iir tlw development of ,Siberia > in any eveni', Japan 'has! made tin* giant 'stride from her island *lo the. continent, and 3ms plan-1 ted there a steady foot, She stands at thv'threshold of an unpromhmteilj expansion In a momentous field of enterprise, and before the dawning of 0110 «-f tlio.se -era?? which shape th<? fate of a jwople.