The Daily News MONDAY, OCTOBER 26. AUSTRALIAN PROBLEMS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 259, 26 October 1908, Page 2

The Daily News MONDAY, OCTOBER 26. AUSTRALIAN PROBLEMS.

A recent is>,ue of that thoughtful London paper. "The Spectator," contains an article of importance to colonials, because it shows the nature of the British mind upon the great problems eoirfvoiiting the colonies. The article deals, it is true, with "Australian Problems," bat what applies to Australia applies, if not wholly, in a considerable measure, to Xew Zealand. "By one of those rather unforeseen effects which make the atfaivs of the Empire so vividly interesting, as well as incalculable, the visit of the United .States Battleship Fleet to Australasia has advanced appreciably two aspirations of the Australians, 1 ' observes the "Spectator." "Both of these aspirations were already fairiy

familial'--one is the ambition of Aus- < fralians to have a navy of their own, and the other is the resolution to keep . Australia a 'white man's country.' Of late the two have become noticeably mingled, the one policy being regarded as more or less inevitably the instruj meat of the other, and the visit of the American Fleet has been taken as the I occasion for expressing them both. Wo call dismiss at once, as either foolish rr consciously mischievous, the conclusion that the enthusiastic delight of the Aus-

trulians at the American visit—which was, ol course, watched with the greatest sympathy and pleasure from Britain —was a sign, lir.it, that they no longer trust in the British Savy to defend them, and secondly, that they regard an Alliance wit!, the United States as I to be desired a. soon as possible in substitution for ihe Alliance with Japan. We have enough confidence in Australian statesmen to be convinced that they perfectly understand the sanctify of 'imperial obligations, as well as the profound delicacy ami dilliculty of tiie problems of whi< h every diplomatic arrangement made by the Home (ioverunient is only a partial solution. We need have no anxiety ill that respect. The utmost the Australian rejoicings meant was thai the Commonwealth Ins a peculiar fellow-feeling for the great nation which, so far as circumstances still make it possible, intends to he a 'white man's country' on a grand scale, and which has at last heartily accepted the principle that the weight 01 a nation's word depends upon the strength of the ships which enforce it.

'■ln spite of some obvious differences, American and Australasian ideals av>.,\

indeed, very much alike, and it would have been surprising if the Australians had not declared as plainly as they did the recognition of the fact, 'that recognition involved no demonstration against |

the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, and was no snub to the British Navy. It was a sentimental acclamation of the solidarity of the Anglo-Saxon brotherhood. But it may be said that hymns of praise iu honor of the 'white man's country' ideal are clearly anti-Asia tic in intention, anil that anti-Asiatic sentiments can have no intelligible application except to Japan. In admitting the logic of that argument, as we do iu spite of what we have already said, we are on'y i acknowledging the tremendous com-

plexity of the Asiatic problem. It is the most formidable dilliculty which lies before British and American statesmen in this century. We may remark, however, that the logic of argument is often very different from the logic of events. And, further, it is as necessary as it .'s encouraging to remember that the in-

telligence of Australian, Canadian, and other statesmen of the British Colonies is at least matched in Japan. Japan knows, as well as we in Britain know, that it is essential to leave the great British Colonies to manage their own a'Vairs; on no other conditions could tiu-y be expected to remain within the I magic circle of the Empire. If they : lake a decision which makes Imperial diplomacy more delicate than ever, we may regret it: but it is unthinkable, except within certain well-defined areas, that we should dispute, it. Japan is not blind, and she has watched Englishmen reluctantly, but none the less effect.ially. since there are no grades between 'Yes' and 'No,' consenting even to the exclusion of their Indian fellow-subjects from the Transvaal. It is not to be expected that Japan should be delighted, but at least she understands that'there is no intentional affront to her in the hardening anti-Asiatic policy of our Colonies or in the growing acquiescence in it in Britain.

"The present tendency of the Austrj. liau Commonwealth i„' pursuit of us ideal of a -white man's country' is not exactly parallel in the career' of another nation,"' crmliiiues the -■. Spectator.'' "Tlip theory is not only that tite A.-ialie should be kept out, but that the white man should secure to himself, by what seems to us an artificial manipulation, oi all u, e economic conditions, an unfailing minimum of comfort. Of course the ambition is itself a splendid one; but even in a large country with a small population „,. f„ lVst , c [i„, film | instability of a system which has already arrived almost at I lie point ot protecting everybody against everybody el,e-the employee against his employer, and the public against boii,. Happily, Australia, with her lino villain! enthusiasm and her youth, canlifford to make experiments: and if one economic system gives place to another and even to many others, it does not mean that salvation has been rejected. But the most curious phenomenon'of the Australian tendency is that, designedly or not, even white immigration is rather discouraged. We are glad to admit that the value of the contrary principle is acknowledged. No observer can be in any doubt, however, as to the difference between the pervading methods of the Canadian (lovernment ami the less re o > Intc advertising „f the Australians. Probably Australian economists ),. m . not..finally made up their minds whetlrr they believe, as we do, that more on pital and more labor would produce more Health v oven re in proportion to th-populalion-or whether if is better that a comparatively small population should continue to inhabit a vast country having a great reserve of natural resources at their back. At present the Australian has reasonably easy work. <-o •.! wages, and much pleasure'. I

Whether the interior and m.rtl.t-rn spaces ol Anslralia will l„. p„| )uhll ,„| 10 white u,en-,f thee cm, boar t |„, clmiale- ~ siill all f ,p,n ~„,.,,;„„. ~„, «c may take it as .settled thai the Am tralians will „„( „,|l i„ ,|,, i, ( .|., Asiatics even in those <li-tik-U, .„!„„. as tlic Australian politician r,.„ u ,i lls „' (.Ik- saiiio 1n,,; as „„„, Hi, aim k Iviml uf scjctitilie liroediii" „f ~ lvii [, tl t'.v economic means. M , a,,,,,,,;,,,, want, the greatest .„,,<! of a moderaL nuinb,r. The iU . agitation 1« ?'") m l] "" h <- «•< a incre iudiisUi, Ji-almisv: it wa> il u . natural ,-osentme). »i vigilant workmen who san - UlI . d , ot then, labor lu-iiifr undersold. ||, lt j H ~o« something fav deeper than „, a | " is a philosophical repudiation of foreign ingredient which cannot be a> smnlated in the Australian polite -fli customs of Asiatics, their religion' thei •social code, their faults. w ,t lo suv th-i ! virtues, an- all dim-rent fr,,„,' thos winch are a-Mimcd ~< Hie lm-is „f while society. That dill'ereiice miirht j, no inconvenience among academic- o well-to-do-people, but among induslrh, Classes living at close quarters it is ; real enough peril. The United Stalling ago imported negroes, anil inn lives with then, as | H . st shj (. ~ practically, when not professedly, S e»rc ptmg them; white men in South Afrit-, took over the natives with the soil .„„ must accept then „ 8 an inevitable' fa' tor; hut Australians have no more" thai a *mall remnant of aborigines, wit «' Imologically are of s , K -h interest tha lie only .-inMcly i s ],. st t |„, v sl|ul|l| "■'"appear all too .soon under the'fata spell which oilen falls („ ancient nati-. races in the pro-ence ,„■ Fumm-in Australians, 11,,.,-cforo. are absolute! free (o choose their course -„o ~a rL ~ their csiate is ncrl^gcd-and t|„. v ~. making (heir choice n . am i '.., . clear, as (hey have a iperfcel' right"[ do. c

"The present rv.-ulv, (~ establish : ,n Australian \avy is only ii wore earnest form of a very old wish. :ihere have Jijiiir 1,,.,.,, .„.,{:.,i ,„jlili;is j.., , nf Hi,. AuMralhm s(aU , s . Wc , „.,:,, ;ll ■l"' thai the results of the Amcni-aii visit lo Australasia. were rather uiiluß'Scei). Imt i u doiii"- so , V( , re . I'errrd only to ( ,|,, impress!,,-,, ,„.„,, 0 „ I In' mass ot olisiTvvrs. There is no il'mlit that 31r. JJeakin (and prol.al.lv a ;:o<xl many oilier prominent A.wtraliai.s w «.iv in the secret) .l.linit.Tv in- I tended the U;1.!.-;ui of ivJlit-Jl (1„, vjsjtniS ilovt was th,. ~,,,!,■,, (~ 5 ,. n . ( , ~i s [ particular Hiival policy \\Y veniitre. I to Jirt'llif-t lll!lt iirlrr"tJlis it Mil practically impossible for the British Admiralty to renew tlic di-nule u j, Australia whether she shall continue to iniike her annua] contribution of money. Tt is out of tile question to trv to llont •.vliat is at the moment (|,;. a | m(K( erstastic aniJdtioa of a scli'-oovcraiii" colony, and tile duty of the Admiralty is to determine what is the best strategical arrnn<romvnt possiljic on the basis ' of the facts as ihev are. It is no arjrii- I nient. to say that such an Australian ! Navy ai could he maintained and man- I ned hy the comparatively small popu- I hition of four million people would he j iiisigniflcnnt and give more anxiety

■than it would be worth. All naval 1 greatness is a gradual growth, it the Admiralty plan goes so far as to contiuue to collect part of the money, and to take tile equivalent of the rest in personal services to the imperial Navy, even that, we fear, would not satisfy the Australians. In I'JOU the imperial Defence Committee rejected the scheme lor a local Australian Savy—a kind of "second-line" iNavy. We think we should lie misinterpreting the new circumstances of to-day if we did not say that the idea cannot be rejected a second lime. Imperial unity will depend ia the future entirely on the ability to guide and profit by tlie strong national feeling of the great colonies."