Study of the Pacific Advocated by Prominent

American

Mr- Martin T. Johnson, Who

was, until recently, American Minister to Australia, and who has now returned to the States on long leave, advocates the establishment of study schools in Australia for all

aspects of Pacific affairs.

The following article, explaining

Mr. Johnson's ideas, is by D. G.

McFarlane, special correspondent for

the Melbourne “Herald,” who travelled to America on the same ship, and to whom Mr. Johnson spoke freely.

MR. JOHNSON told me that on leaving Australia he wrote to Mr. W. H Hughes, MHR, and Mr. Harold Darling, chairman of directors of Broken Hill Pty., Ltd., outlining his ideas for Pacific studies in Australia.

This research, he said, could never be conducted in the United States, which faced both ways, the Atlantic and the Pacific. Except for special courses in some institutions, there were few oppor tunities for such study.

“As the only Occidental people whose lives and fortunes are irrevocably com mitted to the Pacific area,” Mr. Johnson said, “Australia should make all aspects of the Pacific—the peoples and the re sources, its past and future—a field for its- scholarship.

“Australian scholarships should possess this field so thoroughly and intimately that the scholars of all the world will wear a path to Australia.

“No aspect of the Pacific should be neglected—the ocean, its currents, winds, weather, climates, fisheries, ocean bird life, the adjacent peoples, philosophies, customs, political organisations, resources, lands within and bordering the Pacific, literature, arts and sciences.

“Naturally the scholarships should centre in the Universities and schools, but wealthy Australians, the Chambers of Commerce, and the Governments should subsidise the scholarships by en dowing chairs and establishing trust funds and travelling scholarships for promising young scientists, newspaper men, and business men, enabling them to visit all parts of the Pacific.

“The products of their research should become the property of the Universities and other endorsing institutions, and thus the nation’s public property.

“Australian statesmen, business men, primary and secondary industrialists, and political leaders would then possess the best, the most thorough, and the most up-to-date information upon which to plan Australia’s future.

“To no other people is such information more vital. This would give a great goal to Australian Scholarship and take away from education the idea that it is merely the means to attain a livelihood.

“TT would create for Australian scholar- X ship an exclusive and congenial environment in which to develop a prestige entirely Australian and keep men of parts at home.

“Concurrently with such a project I see a wonderful opportunity for Australian publishers to re-print books like ‘Cook’s Voyages’ and other writings on early Aus tralian exploration not generally avail able now.”

Mr. Johnson’s parting gift from col leagues at the American Legation in Canberra was an old edition of “Cook’s Voyages,” which he read with enjoyment on the ship. In 42 months in Australia, Mr. Johnson read Australian literature

widely—more, probably, than many re presentative Australians—and brought many works with him.