Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, MAY 30, 1939. AN EXTENDED ROYAL TOUR.,

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 May 1939, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, MAY 30, 1939. AN EXTENDED ROYAL TOUR.,

QN all grounds the news—unofficial as yet—that the King and Queen may be able to make an. early visit to New Zealand and Australia, besides holding a Durbar m India, travelling part of the way by air, will be welcomed most heartily m this Dominion and in the other countries concerned. As experience is demonstrating very happily in Canada at present, the broa effect of such a tour would be to quicken notably the sympathy and understanding in which the countries of the Empire are linked and it might.be anticipated .with all confidence that m the outcome new energies would be unleashed and concentrated upon the great task of the development of the British family estate for : the benefit of every section of the nation and o humanity in general.

That the King and Queen would be welcomed right royally from end to end of Australia and New Zealand goes without sayiiw. Their visit would be a memorable and a rousing experience for young and old. It was well said in one 01. yesterday’s messages from Canada that the King and. Queen

are doing more in the popular mind to bring visible and unquestioned equality to the self-governing sections of the Empire than a dozen Statutes of Westminister; yet at the same time they are proving that the Empire has only one nervous system and the heart of that system is the Crown.

This demonstration of the unity that pervades the lite of an ” Empire that has become, so far as its white-populated Dominions are concerned, a commonwealth of free nations, ceitainly yi be not less impressive in Australia and New Zealand, it they in turn are honoured with a visit by the King and Queen, than it is at present in

This spirit and principle of unity, which could hardly be emphasised better than by a Royal visit, is splendidly worth emphasising because upon it the whole future of the Empire depends. In the pioneering of the Empire there were magnificent examples, not only of gallant enterprise but of team-work. United co-operative effort is needed more than ever in order that the vast and far-reaching problems by which the countries of the Empire are still confronted, individually and in their relations one with another and with foreign countries, may be brought to a happy solution. In its direct and indirect effects, an extended Royal tour of the Empire might be expected to do a great deal to foster the spirit of purposeful enterprise on which there are unending calls yet to be made in carrying the development of the Empire through its next great stage. 'lt must be hoped that good grounds exist for the tentative reports on the subject thus far transmitted —the more so since these reports imply an optimistic estimate of the international outlook.

FRIENDSHIP WITH JAPAN.

POLITE reticence on the subject of Japanese aggression in China has long been observed by the Australian Federa Government, but of late some members of the Menzies Ministry have shown a disposition to turn definitely m the direction ot friendship with Japan. For instance, in the first ot a series of debates on foreign policy for which days are to be set asm e in the Federal Parliament, the Minister for External Attairs (Sir Henry Gullett) said in part:—

Whatever the future holds for us, we, and our children after us, will never cease to honour Japan for the ' yho l e ~ h ? y in which she honoured her partnership in the Anglo-Japanese Treaty during the dark days of the world war. Not without some confidence does the Australian Government look forward to a neaiei and more auspicious relationship with the great Japanese peop than that which prevails today.

It goes without saying that in these South Pacific Dominions, as in other parts of‘the British Empire, the ruling aim and desire is for friendship with all nations where it is attainable. With all respect, to Sir Henry Gullett and those who share his opinions, however, it must be pointed out that friendship between nations implies a readiness on the part of the nations concerned to base their policy and action upon the common acceptance of certain principles and ideals. Can it be suggested that friendship on this basis is possible between Japan and the British democracies?

An affirmative answer, in circumstances now existing or likely to‘arise for a considerable time to come, would imply that the countries of the British Empire were .prepared, not perhaps to approve of Japan’s present invasion of China, but at all events to acquiesce in it as something that must be allowed to take its course. This, however, is not the attitude of the British Government, which on the contrary has protested in increasingly emphatic terms against incidental developments of the Japanese invasion and, in company with the United States, is continuing, in spite of objections vigorously urged by Japan, to render some material assistance to China in her defensive struggle.

Against -Japan’s latest action in declaring a blockade of the Chinese coast, Britain, as might have been expected, has protested in the strongest terms. Making an announcement to t hat effect in the House of Commons at the end of .last week, the British Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Mr R. A. Butler) addl'd that further steps were being considered to protect British shipping. Following upon the recent incidents at Ktilangsu (Amoy treaty port) these developments can hardly be regarded as favouring continued friendship between Japan and the countries of the British Empire.

On the broad facts of what is taking place in China, however, this friendship is prejudiced much more seriously than it is likely to be by any clash of -Japanese and other foreign interests in international settlements and treaty ports. History has no record of any more deliberate and unprovoked aggression for the sake of gain than the Japanese invasion of China. If China is eventually defeated and compelled to submit, it will be only because japan is a first-class military power and China is not. In all other respects—in her traditions, culture and demonstrated capacity for peaceful development, China compares much more than favourably with Japan. The invaded country’s only offence is her refusal to submit to Japanese dictation and domination of her economic ami political affairs.

Having failed to force a decision in military campaigns in which she has captured the whole Chinese coastline and much inland territory, Japan is now relying in part on the coastal blockade which threatens to bring her into collision with other nations, and in part on deeds of murderous terrorism of which the air raid on Chungking, reported at the end of last week, is only one of thousands of examples. In that single raid, it was reported, 880 persons w.ere killed ami 760 wounded, “all civilians. ’’

From any standpoint of morality, the British democracies must sympathise with China ami condemn -Japan. 11 seems clear that even if morality were ignored, self-interest must impel the countries of the Empire to the same conclusion. As experience from ancient days and down to very recent days, in Europe ami elsewhere, has shown repeatedly, it is the way of aggressors, when they have achieved a measure of success, to look aliroarl for new worlds to conquer. Those of us who desire most keenly to promote friendship between nations must needs recognise, unless our vision is in some strange way contorted or obscured, that the policy of -savage aggression -Japan is pursuing in China is completely and hopelessly opposed to the establishment of a reign of in the Pacific-.