FORTY YEARS IN JAPAN.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 April 1916, Page 6

FORTY YEARS IN JAPAN.

ARCHDEACON DR. BATCHELOR IX- , - TERVIEWED. Venerable in appearance (as in title) and genial in manner, Archdeacon Batchelor, D.D., a figure in Church of England missionary work in Japan, arrived in Wellington from Sydney last wee!;, in response to an invitation of the Church Missionary Society of New Zealand. When quite a young man, Dr. Batehelor decided that missionary work was his vocation, and was sent out to Hong Kong in the middle 70's. In consequence of a bad outbreak of yellow fever in that densely crowded city, in 187(1, he went on to Japan, and commenced his work in the northern (island) part of the country, known as Hokkaido, and there he lias labored for forty years, with brief spells elsewhere. Hokkaido, which is off tlie coast of Siberia, has a very severe winter, and physically is very mountainous. The chief cities are Hakodate in the south and Sapporo on the west coast.

In the course of a brief chat, Dr. Batehelor stated in regard to the .war that the Japanese were very much antiGerman, and consequently pro-British, and (he Alliance with England was a very real thing to them. Asked a question respecting the existence of a "Japanese peril" in the nature of ,a colonising invasion of the South Pacific and Australia (Northern Territory), Dr. Batehelor said that he was absolutely satisfied that it did not exist. America had stated her intention of giving up the Philippines four years henee, and Japan might iiave a look in there, but as far as Australia and New Zealand were concerned, there was no Japanese peril. A long study of the Japanese at close quarters, and through those stages of their gradual awakening under Western influences, had given him a great respect for the people and an admiration for their keenness- in anything they undertake. They had very carefully selected what they considered were the best models for the educating of their people on modern lines. Their navy was on the British model, their anmwas patterned on German line?, an'<! medical science also favored the Genua)' model; their jurisprudence had a French basis; science—cosmopolitan. In matters of education and commerce everyone specialises—if a. man were a toy manufacturer, he was that and that alone, and if he were a botanist he was a good botanist and that only.

The visitor was pleased to say that Christianity was progressing rapidlv in .Tapan, especially among the student classes. Six of the professors of the University of Hakodate were Christians, and the president of the University at Sapporo was a Methodist, Classifying the number of Christians in Japan roughly, he said that there were about 200,000 Roman Catholics (which number included adherents to the GreekChurch), 200,000 Protestants, and about 100,000 unattested Christians. AH sects were at work there, including the Salvation Army and the Mormons. The esteem and respect in which Dr. Batehelor is held in Japan is attested by the fact that the late Mikado of Japan invested him with the Order of the Sacred Treasure, a distinguished order, of which he was very proud, and the possession nf which gave him the privilege of slinking hands with the new Emperor, which hono- was not for all. This could be taken as an indication that the work nf the Church Missionary Society was being encouraged bv the State. Still there was a good deal of Agnosticism among the educated Japanese, consequent upon their being gTeat readers of the materialistic writers of the Western world. They were verv abstemious in habit, and were hungry for knowledge of all and any kind. "The Japanese are all right." con-aided Dr. Batehelor, "when they are treated right, Americans have made the great mistake of treating them as Mongolians. He is not a Mongolian, and yon must never call him a Chinaman.' He is really more of a Malayan, and has nothing in common with the people of China."

Dr. Batchelor intends to go back to •lapan, for he loves the country, and is happy amongst its people. He j s now on fifteen month?' fnrlouoli, and came to Australia to enable his wife to meet her brother, a resident of Albmy, whom .she had not seen for 'forty-two years. Mrs. Batchelor is staying in Alburv now.