MR FOSTER FRASER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 204, 2 October 1909, Page 6

MR FOSTER FRASER.

VISIT OF THE VA MO US AUTHORTUAVELLER. AUSTRALIANS AS A TYPE. VIEWS OX THE CHINESE QUESTION. Mr. John Foster Eraser, whose globetrotting experiences, portrayed with a » iipable pen. have taught the present generation a lot about other lands, is paying New Zealand a visit. One does not see the visible marks of his life-long 'hohby in Mr. Foster Frasor I savs _the Wellington Timet?). He appears to be just a quiet, observant Englishman. until he begins to ask questions', when the practised journalist with in extensive knowle-'ge of the world and : !s people becomes at. once apparent. ■'v can back in«>sV of liis theories with • "els gleaned first-hand, and his conversation makes excellent "copy," as his readers realise.

One I'iad only to mention the yellow iil to hear a most interesting'slatement on the subject. lie was asked if in his opinioiij the Chinese or Japanese were likely within a generation or kp to become a real source of anxiety to Australasian statesmen, but he did* not think so, and was quite positive so far as the Chinese are concerned. "So far as there is any yellow peril," remarked Afi\ Fraser, "It is purely an industrial peril, because a Chinaman works for so little and works long hours. When I wanted to send lettere a long distance in Western China I engaged a man to carry them. He covered thirty miles a day for eight days, took four davs' rest, and then returned, and for that I paid him twice as much as a Chinese would have done. I paid him fourpenoc a day!" WTLL THERE BE WAR? "Do you think the Chinese would make the restrictive legislation a cause of war if they became strong enough, Mr. Fraser?" "No: the Chinaman, in a way, is too civilised to be a fighter, fie is not aggressive. He is one of the finest men I have ever come across. I admire his independence. fo r he is a man who does not believe, as the Jap docs, in mereiy imitating Western wavs. It is of no use talking to him about civilisation ; ! « represented by the things we have to «how. such as our hi<r steamships. cUv tricity. and railway trains. You migV just as well compare the man who a model of Westminster Abbey out of corks, and claims your admiration. The Chinese say. Tt is very clever, but you are only mechanics. We are the edicated people.' They have as large a contempt for the European evidences or civilisation a* an Oxford don has for the man who makes a model of Westminster Abbev out of corks." , THE IMITATIVE .TAP.

The .Tap, tlnmprli more enterprising, Mr. Fraser does not admire. Tie conj cedes that it is wonderful how they have ! ?ot ahead, but he frankly admit? to a j prejudice. 'They are jiot servile as the i Eastern nations usually are," he savs. | "hut. after all. their progress is on<y imitative. They are wearing somebody else's clothes, and it is not an evolution of the national character. Their commercial morality is nothing compared to the high morality of the Chinese. The chairman of the Hong Kong and China Bank will tell you that it has never ha I a had debt with the Chinese, They arc kern bargainers and will get the utmost halfpenny, but once the bargain is made the Chinese are straight. Mv investigations into the Japanese industrial conditions leads me to the conclusion that thev are throwing away all their beautiful national life that is really characteristic of the East, and are becoming imitation Europeans. Whether we are going to sec a real wonder the world, that of the .Japanese grafting on to their Eastern characteristics European civilisation. I would not 'iko to express an opinion. Perhaps they arc, but they will do something that the Avorld has never seen before."

ExnusriMrcx of Tin-: antipodes. "Yes. I have been asked many times whether I felt that the Australian* were a separate type'from the TTonie Cointryman." continued Mr. Eraser in answer to a question, "f have said 'No. They are a transplanted British pcop>. and f don't sc.- the slightest difference.' The Canadian is very much like the man of the Vnited States, but the man i») Australia in like the man in England. You could be landed in one of the big Australian towns, and if you were nol told where you were, you would saw 'I am In a big English provincial town.' T have only been in Xew Zealand a few hours, so that T ought not to express an opinion about Xew Zealanders, but so far it seems as if the same conditions apply here too."

Australians are proud of their country of big distances, but Mr. Eraser is never impressed by distance now. To go off to New York or Canada seems to him, he says, no more than a journey from Wellington to Lyttclton would concern most people. "I have also exhausted my appreciation of scenery; f have seen so much." lie remarked. "What T am now interested in is peop'e, institutions, social developments, and particularly Imperial affairs?." When Mr. Foster Eraser gets back to London lie will enter the political arena, and it is his intention to contest Leicester against the Socialist M.P.. Mr. Kamsay Macdonald, n* a Unionist.