Japanese Trader In Rabaul
p. 10 · Read in the full issue
VIfHEN M. Toyama arrived in Rabaul, 11 T.N.G., recently, and began to trade as a “commercial traveller,” no official objection was raised. He was entitled to remain there, and trade, for six months.
But when M. Toyama affixed to his door a sign, “Branch store of Nanyl Boyeki Kaishi, Ltd., of Tokio,” and began to buy copra for shipment by a Japanese steamer, coming in via the Caroline Is lands (Japanese mandate), and prepared to sell goods from Japan, there was a stir.
No company can locate itself in New Guinea, and operate there, unless 75 per cent of its capital is British. It appears as if M. Toyama has found a breach in the law. Canberra now is giving the matter its serious attention.
We cannot ignore the insistent south wards thrust of Japan. Once let these isolated traders become established, and the whole of these islands soon will be come Japanese. No European trader can settle in the Marshall and Caroline Is lands, where Japan rules.