THE GREAT FAMINE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 133, 5 June 1907, Page 5

THE GREAT FAMINE.

sc irnvr.iqy dying IST china,

(By WALTER KERXCfiJ, in fie "DaU?

Graphic")

I Tie Central Eastern portion of the Chinese Empire is tie terrain over which the great forces of famine are operating in their struggle with a vast population of patient and primitive human beings. Bounded on the sauth by the Yang-tse-Kiang. Uie famine area i≤ bisected by the Grand Canal, which forms —with the river—the main line of communication between it and the outside world. It ia a low-lying country, subject to periodical floods/" and this was the immediate cause of the present famine. During the excessively rainy season of last summer many thousands of square miles-of I this fertile country were flooded to vari- ; ous depths, and all agricultural operations were suspended. The whole of the inhabitants depend on the product of the soil for a living: there is no other industry. They average—at a conservative estimate—"=ome 350 to the square mile, and they live literally from hand to niouth. even in the most prosperous seasons. To attempt to explain how and why these people are so .situated would require a volume. All that can be here said is that they are starving. Now, I have never seen famine before, and I hope that I never shall see it again, but for the purpose of giving the world some independent information on a matter which has been brought to ita notice by means of appeals addressed to its greatest citizens and directed to its comprehensive charity, I have journeyed to- the scene of the contest, and am now in the heart of the district. A VEETxABLE EnTEKNO. We arrived at Tsinkiangpu just in time to see the vast accumulation of human misery in its concentration camps at its height, as within 24 hours the great dispersal of the refugees began. I numbered 1 4S camps, but after that I lost count, as darkness came on before my tally was completed; but I saw enough to convince mc that*my estimate of 450,000 people was well within the mark, and that I had witnessed more human suffering concentrated in one spot than I ever have witnessed before. The sun had . shone brightly all the day, and tie night wa3 clear and starlight. The murk and reek of countless smudges of burning vegetable matter, which took the place of fires in the camps, befouled the dear atmosphere arifl hid the huts and their inhabitants in a veritable inferno. It was intensely cold, and' it required no effort of imagination on my part to picture the state of the thousands who had experienced the short-lived beneficence of the suns ray 3 during the day, but who were now crouening in their, flimsy shelters without extra clothing, fireless and empty.

THE CEASELESS WAILING- OF COUNTLESS BABES.

I have often longed for a, tool for the purpose of sound-picturing a modern battle, wherein little is seen compared .with, the noise that is heard, and-now I wanted it to record the sounds which would. , bring the utter and abject misery of such strife as I am now witnessing right home to the most indifferent of leathery intelligence—the ceaseless wailing of countless babes. I have only been away from Shanghai for 10 days, and almost erery moment has brought its experiences and sensatidnSj bufc'of all the thinsrs I have seen and" hearot during those few short winter days, the waik of these waifs of destitution axe the most haunting and pitifuL They are everywhere and ever-present—the- ragged, bundled-up little pnpltuns, helpless and dependent, as everyone of us was a.t one time, no matter whether we are heirs of all the ages, with a bloody flag to guard us, and' a purse at our - command to procure us the frips and frills of a. bone-dry civilisation, or derelicts by the wayside. Shrapnel and common make some ghastly sights out of flesh and bone 3 and bjood, but ghastlier far than I the sudden death is the slow, sure starvation that is written on the faces of these myriads. I am haunted by a sight that may be laid by my recounting it. I was returning here yesterday from a long journey of inspection of the surrounding I famine country. The "Ay-Ays" of one poor little wan had died away in the distance, and 'another was approaching. A young and good-looking, woman was coming towards mc with, her baby slung in front and facing her. She gazed straight to her front with such a look of abject and total misery on her face as I shall never forget. The child wailed with that abandon that only hunger brings, and the tears were running down the mothers face. She was helpless. As for myself, I could only ride onward, sick and sore at heart. EETDKSING TO DHL On the road from the great camp we overtook and. passed many thousands of the disbanded refugees who were travelling home with all their belongings. I do not know for certain how these people have been induced to return. I was told" by one person, for whose veracity I ra-n vouch, that promises of support have been made to them —that they have been told that the Government will supply them with food or money till the harvest. There is do doubt tltat the- gma,TTpox had broken out in the camps, and it was generally desirable that such a buge congregation of people should- be broken up for sanitary reasons, but I very much doubt that food mil be. forthcoming , for a tithe of them. The magistrate here makes no concealment of. his opinion that half of the people in his Hsien will die, and that nothing but a miracle can prevent it I can vouch for my?elf after my experiences of the last three days. The dying part of the business has already begun. I visited hamlets innumerable in the course of nryroundabout journey through this district, and in every collection: of dwellings there was either a dead or dying person; some contained several. There is not the least shadow of doubt about the cause. It is nothing else but starvation. The appearance of the people ia masked by the great bundles of clothes or rags- that they wear, but in some instances I got a few of them to disclose the upper parts of their anatomy. They were emaciated to the last degree, fearful and horrible—living skeletons. The wealthier among , them were eating a sort of gruel made of leaves and peanuts, and perhaps a little flour or rice r and their surroundings proclaimed that in normal times they lived a very decent existence—judged by Chinese standards. DISTEEBUTrNG BELIEF. Jlb W-nyhfangkoTi the officials were distributing money to. all who had pro-' pertyttr-pledge." A~ crowd "besieged the small yamen on all sides. Stalls and booths containing peanuts, rice, and a sort of biscuit baked, from dark flour stood all around the crowds, and the row was deafening. Forbmaiely, I iad ,aa_ escort of five mea, or I ehooH. bare f ■pi.jg-

; ncr ever, seen ia these parts — at le»sw in foreign.' kit. Wheelbarrows loaded • with boxes of copper cents were arriving , as I got there,, and were being hiked through, a hole in the wall of th« cot** ! pound. By this entrance I also made my way to the presence of the official in charge. The business -was being conducted in a ramshackle room, crammed • indiscriminately "with boxes of coin, ban-ders-en, chairs of ancient fake, straw, and tea equipment." About fifty of them were all talking at once. Outsfile asquad of suppliants erooehed on the ground, each holding up a. scrap of flimsy; paper in his left hand. As soon, as one was attended to, the whole lot rose ami yelled en masse, and were rednced to order by the sticks of the hangers-on. The ticket — a scrap of eoarse-fibreo* tissue paper — stated the owner's property and number oi his family. Against it another paper was issued entitling him. to a. certain amount —four dollars 13 the maximum —•which, he then obtained over the Tvuy at another '•"offiee" conducted in a similar manner. I suppose it Is all right, but I have my doubts. Those who have no property get nothing. Indiscriminate relief ceased some fry* days atro it is six now—and the poor among the people have had nothing to eat for th-at period. I saw some of the effects during ray journey. I do not want to> see it again.