The Daily News MONDAY, OCTOBER 21. FUTURE OF THE PACIFIC.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 21 October 1907, Page 2

The Daily News MONDAY, OCTOBER 21. FUTURE OF THE PACIFIC.

Professor J. Macmilhtn JJrown, who lms been for a considerable time ill New South Wales delivering lectures, returned to Christehurch a few davs a°'o. fiwen;e\ved by a Lyttelljjm Times reporter, he made some interesting observations. lie said New Zealand had a coastline far better adapted for breeding sailors than Australia, .nul New Zealand° I era took to the sen in considerable imbibers. In fact, Now Zealand would be essential to the protection of Australia 1 in centuries to come, on account of that ' \ery circumstance. A great maritime! \ge was being entered upon, and Aus- I Iralia was quite unfilled to'retain her independence in it. She would never be able to man a navy large enough :o iirotort her, and it she launched out into independence she would early be assimilated by some other of ' the great maritime Towers. New Zealand, on the other hand, was well iitted to'protect her own shores from attack. But both New Zealand and Australia lay out of the way of the world's commerce, and history showed that the North Pacific would be the arena of the making of future history. The conditions that were necessary to enable a nation to take command of and control the Pacific were: I'irst, it must be a temperate zone, for no leading race had ever conic from a tropical or Mib-lropical climate; second, it must be insular; and third, it must lie close to the groat world market and labor quarry. The only nation that mllilled nil those requirements in the Pacific was Japan.

Japan was undoubtedly destined to rule the Pacific, he declared. She was already tlie mistress of the Chinese coast and the patron of China. The question at once arose, what was to become of the Anglo-Saxon civilisation in (he countries affected'; The answer was that, by situation and history, Japan was practically a Western nation. She was naturally lilted to be a commercial nation. \\ hat had hitherto prevented her becoming a great commercial nation "'as the introduction of Christianity in I the sixteenth century. The Jesuits eonverted large numbers of Japanese, the bulk of them being the middle or trading class. Hut in the seventeenth century the Government became afraid of the Jesuits and their influence, and they seemed to be ready to interfere in politics. Two million native Christians were sacrificed by massacre as a result, and that practically meant the destruction of the trading class. Trade was tabooed, and only the pariahs of the community took part in it. That was why, when they did start to trade again, the Japanese got an evil name. Now tliev were trying to retrieve their good name in coniiuerce. Thousands uf Japanese were going out into vario-js other countries to learn European methods of business and Western languages, and especially English. The statesmen and ruler- of Japan seemed anxious to place their commerce ojrthe same iiigh level as their warlike equipment and their art, and in order to help they had made English compulsory in the secondary and were introducing it into the primary schools. Thus it would seem that Anglu-,Saxon methods would be inculcated throughout the nation. They were eclectic in their military and naval arts, hut it was evident that they desired to adopt Anglo-Saxonian) in ethics, literature and philosophy. That would be the safeguard of the Pacific. Japan would break down the harrier between East and West. Already she had begun to show the East that the first essential to success was truth, and was encouraging research and the pursuit of truth in every way. That sjie was adopting the ethical standards of the West was clear from the remarkable peace she made with Russia recently, when she waived her claims, obviously in response to a demand from peace.

In Australia, and (.specially in Sydney Profes-or Brown said, tin; newspapers were continually agitated with a nightmarc; ol tin; Japanese invasion of the ■Northern Territory. But a glance at the history of Japan would show that »ln! was never aggressive. Twice she failed to take advantage of the chance to master China; and her one fear was lest some other Power would take Korea, and, by its continued occupation, oiler a menace to the independence. It was an imaginary scare, and it was probably a political ruse for assisting the Labor ideal of a White Australia. Labor was certainly wiser wan those who sought to introduce inferior labor, in iU aim to prevent an inferior race from getting a footing in Australia. It would be disastrous to have introduced another race with a dilferent ethical creed and a lower standard of comfort, and have it take command of the industry of the country. It would lie worse than the negro problem in the United States. As an actual fact, it was more than likely that Japan and China would have their hands more than full lor a very long time with the development of their natural resources and the exploiting especially of the mineral wealth of China. lie had heard the opinion expressed that both countries could carry double their present population, if their resources ivere properly developed. For some time the lack of capital in the two countries would hamper their work, but it would not be long before there was plenty of capital, and then Occidental methods would be adopted. It was quite probable that China and Japan would need all the raw material and food that Australia could spare, and in return would ship thither great quantities of cheap guods. It was not an invasion of armed hordes, but a descent of an army of laborers that was the real Yellow Peril for Australia, and the importation of enormous quantities of cheap goods which would swamp the industry of the H esterns. 'I he vital question, then, was whether the standard of comfort of would rise concurrently with the increase of Oriental wealth, or whether Occidental industry would perish before the Oriental standard was as high as that of the West.