The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 36, 1921. AMERICA AND JAPAN.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 March 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 36, 1921. AMERICA AND JAPAN.

Tlje little island of Yap, a mere cluster of wooded volcanic peaks in the Southern Seas, protected by a coral reef, forms part of the Caroline group, and in years past has figured in more than one international tussle. It is now the subject of strong controversy between America and Japan, for the reason that it has a cable station, and is an all important link in international , communication. From Yap three cables run outOne goes to Guam, the Americanowned island to the north-east, which in its turn is connected by cable with San Franeisio, via Midway Island and Honolulu. A second runs. to Shanghai, and a third to Menado, in the Dutch Indies. Thus the cable station of Yap is of considerable importance to American communications with the Far Bast. Yap, however, is in Japanese occupation by virtue of the League of Nations’ mandate over the former German possessions north of the Equator, entrusted to Japan by the Peace Conference. America claims ( that she should not. be deprived of direct communication with Germany and the Far East, as she alleges she has been by the distribution of the former German cables ' among Great Britain, France, and Japan, and contends, as regards Yap, that the protocol of the Peace Conference giving Japan the mandate over Yap intended that the cable-station should be internationalised. This Japan disputes, and it would teem is justified in so doing, for if the mandate had been intended to exclude the control of the cablestation, it is only reasonable to assume that a definite provision to .that effwt would been made.

If America has any real grievance over the mandate she can justly blame no one but herself and her policy of aloofness over the Peace Treaty. There can be no question that the island of Yap and the business connected with the cablestation will, froni an international point of view, be in far better and safer hands under Japanese, administration than . under German. Unfortunately America mistrusts Japan to such an extent that she embarked on a huge naval programme that involved the expenditure of a tenth of 1 her national revenue for armaments, the result being that Japan has appropriated half her national revenue for the same purpose, though Japanese authorities are proclaiming that an AmericanJapanese war is impossible. Be that as it may, the position with regard to Japan’s mandate over Yap is perfectly clear. Unless it is carried out to the satisfaction of the League of Nations it can and could be withdrawn, and that is a potent reason why America should join the League an/I not exert pressure on Britain to carry out America's wishes. There is much truth in the statement recently made at Washington by Mr. Taft “that if Americans knew more concerning Japanese affairs, and the Japanese knew more concerning the Californian situation, there would be less friction.” .It is the absence of this mutual understanding that is producing most undesirable situations that would never have arisen if more amity had been cultivated instead of enmity. The policy of Japan relative to the administration of Yap has been outlined by the Japanese Foreign Office, and a more z satisfactory pronouncement could not be desired. Practically it embodies the same ■ principles which would have been laid down by Britain if the latter had been given the mandate. In calling attention to the exaggerated economic and strategical value of the island, the communique states with convincing force: “It might as well be said that the United States obtained control of the Atlantic by the purchase of the Virgin Islands (a group of small islands in the West Indies, lying east of Porto Rico), as to say that by the mandate over South Pacific isles,Japan has staked the sea area from Kamtchatka to the South Pacific.” The idea is preposterous, and so, as a matter of fact, is the whole dispute which America has raised over the administration of Yap. Britain deemed Japan worthy of being an ally, and America, instead of looking for trouble, would be far more worthily employed in cultivating friendly relations than in attempting, to settle the world’s affairs by type-written documents that cause irritation, and lead to the maintaining of huge outlay on armaments. Her obvious duty is to join the League of Nations, or leave those who have signed the Covenant to accomplish their work without dictation by abstainers.