Confederation?

Why Not A South Pacific

Plea For a Co-ordinated Effort in Islands Administration

By M. Frater.

mHE demand for closer collaboration A between France and Britain has been hailed with a significant chorus of approval. The forging of a link of mutual understanding and friendship between the two countries is of great moment, and fraught with far reaching possibilities.

By throwing everything they hold dear into the struggle for the supremacy of right over might, the Allies have brought into intimate relationship all those in every land who speak the same language—the language of democracy.

Before the outbreak of hostilities, there were many who thought that the British had more in common with the Germans, and affirmed that an entente cordiale between Britain and Germany would have been more in harmony with

the nature of things. So obsessed were they with some discordant elements in the British and French modes of thought that they were blind to the bonds which unite the two peoples.

Regarding the English and French modes of life as parallel lines, which would never meet, they failed to recog nise that the French and English, with their inheritance of independence and democratic institutions, had nothing in common with the great majority of goose-stepping Germans, who actually keep the Nazis in power.

It required the present life-and-death struggle to throw down the few remain ing fences that kept the two races apart, and to dispel the illusion that each has a unique psychological character. In this supreme hour of destiny, there is the same estimate of what is a decent way of life, making the French and English as brothers, marching side by side, under one flag and with one battle-song.

This Nazi challenge to individual lib erty has produced one of the most stable alliances in history. Already, it is seen that the peace and security of the world will depend upon collaboration continu ing after the war. Such a union might not only bring together the divergent elements of Europe, but contribute to the great ideal of world federation on a democratic basis.

Conditions in the South Pacific were never more opportune for a Federation, not only of British and French, but of all democratic nations with interests here. A great forward step, in promot ing the peace and progress of the Paci fic territories would be taken, if an Anglo - French - American Condominium were brought within the range of pos sibility. It would be an additional source of stability if Holland, with her vast East Indian Empire, were brought into the same collaboration. A Condominium of these four Powers in the South Paci fic would provide permanent security, and promote the conservation and devel opment of the native races. rE desirability of such a Federation derives its urgency from the pre sence of another Pacific Power that is not democratic, but is a typical totali tarian state Germanic in its ruthlessness.

Japan dreams of a Pacific Empire, and her ambition to bring the islands of the South Seas under her domination has created manifest uneasiness among the European communities in the Pacific.

Though partly exhausted by her war in China, Japan still is a force to be reck oned with, even in the South Pacific.

Much of the territory she covets belpngs to Britain, Australia, France, America and Holland. On the plea that she is economically linked with the regions of the South Seas, she contends that in order to make self-sufficient the “New Order” she is creating in the Far East, it is necessary to exploit the resources of the Pacific Islands.

The current issue of the English magazine, “World Dominion”, contains the significant statement: “Depopulation

of the Southern New Hebrides goes on, and lack of interest in the problem may lead to the Japanese over-running the islands.”

Commenting on the Japanese menace, the Very Rev. T. E. Riddle, Moderator of the New Zealand Presbyterian Church, who was formerly a missionary in the New Hebrides, states: ‘‘The invasion of the New Hebrides by Japan points to a happening that is inevitable, as long as Australia values a political theory more than a political fact. She shuts out the New Hebrides and does not see the danger of Japanese occupation. With Epi, Erromanga and Efate practically depopulated, we have no right to deny them to a virile race that can make use of them. So I am afraid we will have Japanese there for keeps.”

The reason which prompted the Rev.

Mr. Riddle’s statement was the likeli hood of the sale to the Japanese of a British plantation on Epi, the island with which he was formerly associated.

Copra, the staple product of the Islands, had no attraction for the prospective purchasers. Cotton was the induce ment, and their aim was to clear the land for its cultivation.

The New Hebrides is eminently suited for cotton growing, and, once the enter prise is successfully launched, the settle ment of Epi with Japan immigrants would proceed apace. The empty spaces of the large Southern islands, to which “World Dominion” refers, offers also ample scope for the settlement of multi tudes of impoverished Asiatics, who know nothing about an eight-hours day, a standard of living, or birth control. rE special references in the two statements are to the New Hebrides, but they apply with equal empha sis to New Caledonia, Solomon Islands and other Groups with declining popu lations.

The proximity of fertile islands, with vanishing populations, on the eastern flank of the Australian continent, con stitutes a lurking danger zone, fraught with sinister possibilities. With the pro gress of aviation, the Islands have assumed a strategic importance, out of all proportion to their commercial value.

Forming a link in the chain of Pacific Islands which serve as a natural ram part to Australia’s vulnerable north-east coast, they constitute her first line of defence. Nevertheless, in spite of their importance to the Commonwealth, many people will be ready to endorse Rev. Mr.

Riddle’s contention that if the democratic Powers, already in possession, fail to populate the Islands with a virile race of indigenous people, occupation by the Japanese is inevitable. Public opinion will no longer tolerate a dog-in-the manger policy, even by Governments.

IT is now recognised by all interested in the prosperity of the South Seas that the development of the Islands is inseparable from the conservation of the native race, and that the most effectual means of stemming the tide of Japanese aggression would be co-opera tion by the democratic Powers in a scheme for arresting depopulation and transforming the indigenous inhabitants into healthy, prosperous communities.

The greatest factor in the change from depopulation to racial regeneration is an expansion of medical effort. Scientific research has brought a solution within sight by identifying racial degeneration of Pacific Islanders with the introduction of European diseases. The carefully

planned experiments, in curative and preventative medicine, made by the Gov ernments of Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Cook Islands have enabled medical re search to cope with the scourge and bring down the death rate from 50 per 1,000 to less than 18.

Even although remedial measures are rendered more difficult in the New Hebrides and Solomons by the presence of malaria, there is no doubt that, had these islands had the same generous treatment as other islands in the Pacific basin, they would have responded in the same way and be now recovering from racial degeneration.

Were a Federation of Associated Pow ers in the South Pacific to accept the challenge and introduce into the depopu lated areas the remedial measures that have been tested with such beneficent results in other islands, it would be found that the rehabilitation of the native race had removed the greatest temptation to Japanese aggression, and at the same time preserved the loyalty of the islands towards the sovereign States under whose protection they dwell.

The demand that has grown up re cently for a federation of the democra cies of the world is universal in its appeal, and it is to be hoped that noth ing untoward will interfere with its ful filment. But one of the most obvious and urgent accessories would be a South Pacific Confederation. And, ready to

hand, is an existing foundation on which to build, in the Anglo-French partner ship which the war has brought into existence.

That movement should be developed into what might well become a South Seas Confederation, the central object of which would be the preservation of peace and the well-being of the native races.