STARTLING PROPOSAL OF A BISHOP

Radio Record, 22 July 1938, Page 10

STARTLING PROPOSAL

OF A BISHOP

Written for the "Record" by

WILL

GRAVE

Japanese Consul-General

Talks of His Rapidly In-

creasing Race That Seeks To

Avert Starving To Death

In Its Own

Back-Y ard

6&6 | HEN why, as a fresh, bloodless and altogether satisfactory means of defence, having in view, for example, such a possible and powerful enemy as the Japanese, why not offer them room in a land like this, which we cannot possibly people? . . "And look at the-waste in New Zealand. Miles and miles of land that our scanty population cannot possibly make use of. Why not. offer large tracts to the Japanese? It is quite possible to make regulations acceptable to both sides for our peaceable living in the same country. If only 5,000,000 were admitted, New Zealand would not know itself for the wealth that would Bishop’s Bombshell [NTO the calm and prosperous city of Hamilton, where the main’ problem of the inhabitants, up till now, has been little more than that of wondering where to park their cars in the main street, the Rt. Rev. C. A. Cherrington. Bishop of Waikato, last: week dropned -his bombshell. It immediately caused a tremendous explosion of elemental feelings. « , mo The verdict of the majority. of people in New Zealand, on the Bishop’s suggestion, would be an immediate negative. Of that there is no quéstion. N the morning after the Bishop’s statemént appeared in Wellington, I asked three men of standing in the community what they thought of it. The first said:"What an extraordinary statement! It would be

simply inviting the Japanese to come over and take the country without opposition." The next man said slowly: "Well, you know, it is what a good many people are thinking, though they are not saying it." The third man. said: "I don’t think the Bishop really understands this country or its inhabitants. For instance, I believe when he was giving an address at Otorohanga, practically the home of the Maori race, he referred to the Maoris as ‘the blacks.’ " When, two days later, the cables flashed back a message from Tokio informing the people of New Zealand that Mr. Iguchi, a Japanese Government spokesman, had politely said that the idea was "very fair" and that Japan was quite prepared to export 5,000,000 people, New Zealanders had the horrified sensation that somehow the Bishop had "let the cat out of the bag." What had been merely an airy, fanciful and somewhat irresponsible theory had been rather abruptly brought down to the hard world. of reality. Questions to a Consul ]yPANWHILE, interested in the Japanese reaction tv . the ‘Bishop’s suggestion, the "Record" had already interviewed Mr. Kiichi Gungi, the newly-appointed Japanese Consul-General to New Zealand, stationed. in Wellington. He replied to a number of questions. ‘Does Japan want this too?’ the "Record" asked. "Tt is. an interesting: topic," said the Japanese Consul. "T heard almost the same story -.ately from an English Bishop who called at Auckland on his journey round the world. He made the.same statement regarding Australia and its unoccupied spaces. "Divorcing the Bishop’s statement from the question of New Zealand politics, and considering the general principle underlying it, I do not think anyone can find fault with it. Every country aims at the policy of giving comfort to the individual. If it is right that the policy should’ be applied ‘to individuals, it should also be right to apply it nationally. As a principle it can hardly be denied that one country should not live miserably while others live in comfort. "It is not, however, the policy of the Japanese Government to force other countries to take their ‘people, unless it has Treaty rights." Where They _Go " ARE ‘the Japanese good colonisers?" In Brazil, said the Consul,.there are 180,000 Japanese "settlers and some thousands in the Argentine, In Honolulu, there are 200,000 Japanese, about half the population; and they have their representatives in the governing body of Hawaii....In California there ‘are 100,000, in Mexico 6000, ‘and. settlers in the South Sea Islands and in the Philippines. In almost all these countries, however, there were now restrictions against Japanese immigrants and. striet. forms of limitation so that the main outlet for Japanese ‘colonising is in Manchukuo and China. "Are-the- Japanese immigrants: good farmers, or do they not tend to become business men in the towns of the new countries?" © The Japanese were good agriculturista, ‘said the Con-

sul. They had not so much Jand in Japan and many farms. They were increasing their production every year by modern scientific methods. On the island of Hokkaido in the north they had their dairy-farms and produced butter. Mostly, however, they cultivated rice, wheat, corn, potatoes and vegetables. On the hill country they cultivated tea, oranges and berries. Once Japan used to import rice from Siam, French Indo-China and Burma. Now she herself produced enough rice for her own needs. Corn was. produced in Japan, Formosa and Korea. She could not grow enough wheat for her own needs, and had to import a certain amount from America. In Brazil the Japanese immigrants: grew coffee and cotton; in California they were orchardists, farmers and vegetable gardeners; in Honolulu they were mostly farmers, growing sugar and pineapple; in Mexico they cultivated corn; in’ Davau they cultivated hemp‘and had develeped the industry into the finest in the world. On the Land "THE Japanese emigrants in other countries were content to work the land so long as it could support them. In Mexico and in other countries they had been driven off the land to the towns during the depression in order to support themselves, but it had not been their desire to forsake their farming occupations. . Manchukuo was Japan’s natural outlet for colonisation, but there the Japanese immigrants had encountered Nature’s restrictions. They had ‘suffered from the’ severe cold." Moreover, Chinese labour there was so cheap that the Japanese labourers could not compete. against it. For that reason Japan was now sending only skilled labourers and. foremen -to Manchukuo to direct tha development of the country.

"WOULD there be intermarriage between white nations and their Japanese immigrants ?" "The Japanese have no objection to intermarriage," said the Consul, "but I understand the white races are not in- favour of it. "In America, since the Japanese could not find wives, the Japanese Government sent. brides. for them from Japan, but the American Government did not like it, and the policy was abandoned." "-p° Japanese who immigrate remain always Japanese or do they become absorbed in . the new countries, in the manner that so many foreign races have been’ absorbed by the

United States into one people?" , ‘ In America, said the Consul, it had been found that the first generation of Japanese immigrants had kept their ties and patriotism to Japan, but the next generation had grown up in the American atmosphere and their spirit was quite American. They. had no chance of seeing their mother country, and it was only natural that they should become assimilated in the new. HERE had been a complaint by an Wnglish tourist, published in New Zealand newspapers recently, that

Japanese tourists’ had been. surveying Auckland with a. theodolite. . Would the Consul' ‘comment on that? asked ‘the "Record." — The Consul smiled.’ Cameramania (CAMERAS on stands, with telescopic lenses. attach--ed, look like theodolites, : he said.. The Japanese are. keen photographers and beautiful scenes very much appeal to. them. They see such a scene and say, "I must take this . picture for my album when I get home to show my friends." "If we wished to undertake espionage, we would searcely be likely to have our cameras in the open.. "Again, charts of all your main ports dre available from (Continued on page 86.),

Bishop’s Proposal

er -. JAPAN’S SOLUTION (Continued from page 11). the Marine Department for all Japanese ships trading in those ports. All stationers sell scale maps of your principal cities. Would those Japanese then be likely to be surveying? "WA7HAT do you think is the solution to Japan’s problems?" No immigration scheme that takes only 20,000 people a year from Japan can solve the country’s problem, said the Consul. Japan’s population is in- ‘ ereasing at the rate of over 800,000 a year. The most important thing left to her is to develop: her industry and commerce so that she can give jobs to the younger generation. EHIND those last words of the Consul lies a wealth of meaning. It is easy to be indignant against Japan for her invasion of China and her inexcusable military terrorism. Behind all this, however, lies what the Japanese consider is a struggle for their racial existence. The population of the Island Hmpire of Japan to-day is 71,000,000 inhabitants in an area of 147,000 square miles. The numbers are increasing at the rate of 800,000 a year. Those people demand the right to live. "THERE are four suggested solutions to meet the situation. Birth control, agricultural improvement, emigration, and trade expansion. As far as the first is concerned there is a traditional reluctance in the East to sanction a method that interferes with the social unit of the family. In agricultural expansion and production, Japan finds that the maximum yield to the acre in her country is almost reached. In emigration, the doors of 19 countries where the Japanese could most favourably emigrate are now legally closed to the Japanese. The one remaining solution for Japan is trade expansion. Here again resentment has been aroused abroad by the aggressive initiative that marked Japan’s invasion of foreign markets. Barriers have been erected against her in every part of the world. By the end of 1934, at least 40 States had imposed trade testrictions on Japanese goods. Facing formidable trade barriers in most parts of the world, Japan turned to China. She has more at stake in China than in any other foreign country, her investments there totalling £300,000,000. With the rise to power of the Chinese Nationalist Party in 1927, and anti-foreign agitations and boycott, Japan saw her one chance of survival on the point of vanishing. Soon afterward she acted, first in Manchukuo in 1931, later in China proper just over a year ago. Her only alternative, says Japan, would have been starving to death in her own back-yard. @