THE JAPANESE MENACE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 216, 12 March 1914, Page 6

THE JAPANESE MENACE.

i'ltOl-'KKXOK .VACMILI.AN'i BROWNS OPINION. The possibility of an attack bv tin Japanese on New Zealand in the iiitui.. formed the main subject of ail aiMi redelivered by Professor Macmiliiin lirowu at Ihe annual meeting of tile L'hrislchunli branch of the Navv League last week. The speaker said that he Ihoughi New Zealand should set its mind on . navy rather than an army, since sinwas insular. Britain and Japan wcr. islands, and by their very positions ha.; become maritime in the lirst place. New Zealand was in the same position, am' was naturally destined to be a maritime nation. When New Zealand had completed her internal development sin would produce two of the lines! types the mountaineer and the sailor. \Vlieishe had harnessed her water power, nl her mountain sides would he dolte: 1 with villages and her liurds filled with fishermen. NOT PEACE AT ANY PRICE. It might be said New Zealand's remoteness made her secure, and that she i\A not need a navy or an army. But that was the illusion of cranks, for whom Cathedral Square was the safety-valve. If any man thought to make any isolated spot the spot in which to achieve the millennium, he was merely an "ism-monger" and a crank. The work the .Navy League had to do was of a maritime nature. To develop New Zealand's resources its people would have to take to sea-life more than at present. It was true that New Zeaiand had been for many years in a back eddy of the world. But this was ceasing now to be the ease, and New Zealan certainly had before, it the question ni whether it was to be an advocate o> peace or otherwise. All wauled peace 'but not "peace at any price." Pcua j with honor was necessary, and the J<1 velopment of means of self-defence \vnnecessary to this end. If Britain liaI left her navy undeveloped she wo-nd j would never have achieved the pcac, i she enjoyed at present. Britain had ! had to fight to maintain tier prestige. THE FI.'TCRK STRUCCI.E IN THE PACIFIC. The work that lay before the Britain of the South, continued Professoi Brown, was a more serious matter than what Britain had had to do. There 1.i.-, in the future a great change in the shifting from the Atlantic to the Pacilie. In the future, the Pacific would be the home of two-thirds of the people of the globe, and the result would be envy and jealousy, resulting in wars, in which New Zealand would be in the centre and forefront. In the Pacilie would be fought the greatest struggle mankind had ever seen, the struggle between East and West. All the white races around the Pacific were shutting their doors on Orientals, and the East would not bear this with equanimity. There would be such r struggle as mankind had never seen before. The East and the West had conflicting moral, social and political ideas, and one or the other must be the master. AUSTRALIA'S PERIL. Professor Starr Jordan, continued the speaker, had said that there was no more danger of an attack from Japan than from Denmark. But this j was wrong. Rights in future would be certain to clash, each party thinking right in its desires for extension, and hence its big navy, maintained ut a huge cost tu the country. There was breathing spate for preparation, since Japan was entangled in financial difficulties of taxation. She could not go to war at present, because she had nothing to pledge to raise war loans. But she hoped to be able to before long. Her emigrating population was finding an entrance into Spanish America, whence it was welcome. But Spanisii America would inevitably get alarmed and pass exclusion laws, and Australia would have to bear the brunt of .Japanese influx and attack. Japan expected »to .have the exploitation of China's I great coal and iron fields, and when she I got possession of these she would be as wealthy a nation as she was now a poor one. Then her alliance with England would bo unnecessary. This alliance, then, need not be counted upon. If New Zealand and Australia were, not prepared, .they would be coerced into admitting the Japanese. The Japanese were an ambitious nation. They had succeeded in bullying the Dutch Malay Archipeligo, and they would bully the posterity of the present New Zealandei's if tho latter did not maintain an ellicient nation. It might be said, continued the speaker, that Japan would deal kindly with New Zealand, since she was not a cruel nation, and New Zealand was under .the wing of Britain. But there was a huge vagabond population in Japan of a most unscrupulous type, though the more highly educated samurai was highly honorable. Before many generations were over New Zealand would liave to face humiliation for the sake of peace or else she would have to stand up for her rights. And what was the use of peace without freedom? The Briton must be free or die. Mrs. Ilelene Cross also spoke briefly on the subject, and expressed the opinion that Australia, more obviously than New Zealand, was gravitating towards a nationhood of her own. Mr. J. J. Dougall said that it was the duty of men like Professor Macuiillan Brown to keep before people the fact that if they were not prepared for their own defence they would go under, and he and the centre were indebted to the Professor for his remarks. Professor Brown and Mrs. Cross were each accorded a, vote of thanks.