Speaking in the Broad

In 1939 when Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies sanctioned a shipment of scrap to Japan, shocked Australians nicknamed him "Pig Iron Bob." When war came, a fever of Jap hatred swept Australia, and lingered on for a decade. As Menzies said: "You only have to mention the word Japanese for it to be worth three headlines." Last week Menzies was making three headlines and more, after a trip to Japan.

At Tokyo airport Menzies shook hands with top-hatted Premier Kishi and his Cabinet, drove off in a gold-decorated black coach drawn by black horses, to lunch with the Emperor and Empress. (The first Australian parliamentarian to shake hands with Hirohito shortly after the war had been condemned in Australia for "a dastardly act.") Glowed the Japan Times: "Mister Menzies has proved himself a man of broad vision and deep understanding." But the Japanese soon found that mincing language is no part of Pig Iron Bob's equipment. Said Menzies: "I've come up here without any reservations, to talk to you as a complete Australian."

Friendly Association. Then in straightforward Aussie fashion he laid it on the board: "We have been at war with each other, and feelings in Australia were strong and bitter. But we participated in negotiations for peace without any idea of penalties or reparations. I say this merely to establish it in your minds. In spite of events ten years ago, we have not approached Japan in a spirit of hatred or unpleasantness. Friendly association is our watchword."

Asked by Japanese reporters if friendly association meant that Australia was preparing to ease the sentences of 14 Japanese war criminals, Menzies said genially but uninformatively: "The whole matter is being approached in a most liberal fashion." In the glum pause that followed, Menzies raised his comedian's shaggy eyebrows: "This is a remarkable silence!" A Japanese reporter asked: "Has Australian public opinion reached the point where you may welcome Orientals as temporary or permanent residents?" Said Menzies in cheerful reply: "No; speaking in the broad, there's no such indication."

Breaking Ice. In recognizing that "there is, beyond dispute, a military threat from Red China," Menzies put his finger on the basic reason for better Aussie-Japanese relations. When asked why Australia did not buy more Japanese manufactured goods to balance Japan's purchases of Australian wool (Japan is now Australia's second-best customer), he frankly pointed up the greatest difficulty in the way of making the rapprochement stick: "Our large export income cannot be neatly balanced, because we have great industries that we are encouraging." But the ice had been broken. In the Japanese Diet Menzies was given a standing ovation.

Bidding Premier Kishi a cheery "Come down and see us some time," Pig Iron Bob started back to Canberra. "Most exhausting journey I have ever undertaken," he told reporters. "Hope I never have anything like that again." But there was wisdom in his genial candor. Said he, urging a study of Japan's need for foreign exchange: "The one great thing which could disturb the peace of the Pacific is to have a frustrated Japan."

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