Melbourne, Nov. 22.
Senator Bakhap, whose name properly suggests his paternal Grigin, and who is a lucid, capable exponent of statesmanlike ideas, seems to be warning his Australian compatriots that something startling will happen during the next two or three months. The senator is Chairman of Committees, and despite the handicap of his mixed nationality has held his own against all comers in the State of Tasmania. His warning, therefore, cannot be ignored, though it may be a little difficult to understand exactly what he is driving at- He says, according to newspaper reports, that all the senators know what he means, That may be so but from the public point of view seems to be emulating the young man with the green glasses, who Passed his leisure moments on the block winking at the girls. He knew what he was doing; no one else did.
As Senator Bakhap has always endeavoured to bring about a more complete understanding between the Chinese and Australia, and as the Japanese aggressiveness becomes more insistent, it is possible that his Delphic utterances may be taken to have reference to the Assembly of the League of Nations, where Senator E. D. Millen, Minis. ter for Repatriation, is representing Australia. Or the Tasmanian Senator, who is, I think, a Roman Catholic, may be emphasizing the fears of the Vatican, as reported by cable, that the thread of peace binding the United States and Japan has worn dangerously thin. This is all speculation but I think interesting, as the startling de-nonement, if there is to be one, will be dus to arrive about the time these notes are in the printer's hands. Personally I am_ in clined to think that it is from the by of the League of Nations that Senator Bakhap expects the bomb, and the startling facts will lie in the direction of Japanese aggression in the South Pacific.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.