NEW CALEDONIA

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 113, 28 September 1912, Page 5

NEW CALEDONIA

THE JAPANESE INFLUX. l>y TeipgTapii--Press Association. Wellington, Thursday. New Caledonia in Japanese hands would be a standing menace to Australia and New Zealand as well, and not a little uneasiness is being felt in Australia on account of the large influx of Japanese into the French possession (writes the Sydney correspondent of the Post). "Members of the Federal Government arc gravely concerned, regarding the statement of the Tokio newspaper Niroku that 3000 additional coolies are about to leave Japan for the New Caledonia* nickel mines, but the Minister for External Affairs (Mr. Thomas) said to a question, "Wlut can we do about it? N«e\v Caledonia, doesn't belong to us." There are already several thousand Japs in the island, all of them, so authorities declare, ex-soldiers, and a considerable proportion nf the educated class; and their movements and the oilicial interest shown by their own Government in their welfare suggest that they are there with some definite purpose. It is not expected that there will be any trouble just now, but the Japanese colony is growing larger and larger each year, and may soon present the same problem that faces the authorities at Hawaii. It will not be easy to get rid of them, if that is ever desired, and the presence of several thousand trained men may, at some critical moment, give the French authorities a great deal of worry. What concerns Australia and New Zealand is the danger it will be to us.