Sir H. Rider Haggard's Views on the Menace of the East London, July 17.
Sir H. Rider Haggard is of the opinion that Western civilization is by no means so secre as many Westerners believe.
"We have an idea that the West is going on for ever," he said, lecturing before the Norwich Rotary Club, "but can we be quite sure of that! Those who have studied and know the East; its enormous power of reproduction its simple habits of life on the land, and its system of moralities which make every woman think it ber duty to have children, know that it contains an enormous potential power which must one day break out.
"Whether it can be curbed I do not know, but I have grave doubts. I shall never forget my friend, 'Thaodore Roosevelt, saying when talking of Japan 'Look out for Australia; it will be the first place to go.'
"If once Japan secures the control of China the outlook for the Western world will be very cloudy."
The speaker said he thought our existing civilization in the end probably would go the way of other civilizations that had preceded it.
"Who would have thought a dozen years ago," he asked, "that there would be such horrors in the world as we have recently seen in Russia? Even in Ireland it has been reveal-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.