JAPANESE IN CHINA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1937, Page 8

JAPANESE IN CHINA.

A TRAVELLER'S EXPERIENCES. FIRM RULE IN MANCHURIA. (By D. L. DONALDSON.) (No. I.) My friend and I put into effect a wish to travel to New Zealand by a more interesting route from England than those normally chosen. We found that the trans-Siberian railroad provided lis with the opportunity of reaching the Dominion in reasonable time, with a few weeks 111 Manchuria, .Japan and China. Now that I am safe and sound in New Zealand I reflect upon the puzzling situation in the Kast and find it difficult to draw conclusions as to how political matters will affect ue. I certainty feel that we shall be drawn into trouble ultimately, in spite of our remoteness. Perhaps the description of a few random incidents in the course of my travelling may interest readers here. Let me mention that my knowledge of Eastern political affairs is negligible, and I had little opportunity of meeting the "big men'' who are said to control the destinies of the nations. I write of personal experiences and of intimate conversations with "the man in the street." A few days in Manchuria made me reach the conclusion that it is a good thing, 011 the whole, that the Japanese have virtually taken over this country from the Chinese. Building works are going on everywhere, apparently on town planning lines. The filth associated with populous China is rapidly giving way to the fastidious cleanliness of the Japanese. 1 could not help feeling that the orderliness and business-like atmosphere introduced was an important advance toward civilisation, however adversely previous vested interests may have been affected. My reactions may well have been influenced as a result of several days' illness following my first meal in a Chinese restaurant! It is. however, a fact beyond dispute that sanitation and public health are being improved and the country is being modernised and industrialised.

Suspicious Officials. Suspicion is rife in all the Japanese territory I visited. The hordes of petty officials and their officiousness sorely try the patience of the most placid Anglo-Saxons. Questionnaires of extraordinary length and footling significance had frequently to be answered. I have been awakened at 11 p.m. on a third visit of inquiring officials simply to tell them my mother's name, which I had already given. I used to feel as if I really were a spy or notorious character. Interviews were interminable when notes made laboriously in socalled English by an interpreter had to be converted into Japanese characters. Unfortunately, all the best-known scenic beauties of Japan happen to lie within socalled fortified zones, and photography by the tourist is strictly forbidden. I beard of immediate arrests being made when visitors broke this law, in zones where there could not have really been fortificatioas for some miles. I found that the studied politeness of the Japanese gives way to passionate rage on little provocation. My friend realised this when he was told by a little soldier to open his suitcase for yet another examination, this time on the dusty earthern platform, immediately on alighting from the train in Mancliurian territory. He made for a nearby seat, where be would be able to open his suitcase out of the immediate path of the swarming passengers. That Japanese soldier nearly went mad with excitement and trained his rifle 011 my friend. It might well have gone off in that turmoil. After that we were more careful to anticipate how our actions might be construed. These soldiers had, we then realised, been engaged in war in an unfriendly country for years. With war officially over they still had to contend with thousands of bandits, said to be in the pay of the Chinese Government. Ruthless measures were in force to exterminate the age-old institution of banditry, especially as the number of outlaws has naturally been increased by those survivors of the Manchurian army. Personally I was glad that our train was #=0 well armed, and I readily obeved instructions to keep the blinds down at night so as to avoid observation by the bandits. We had half a dozen soldiers in our compartment, and their equipment included a little machine gun. An armed patrol paraded the length of the train incessantly to prevent inside conspirators. In Northern China. In Northern China I found a strong antiJapanese outlook, shared by every Legation I came in contact with. Resentment of Japanese interference was not expressed by deeds; in fact extraordinary toleration, l>oriie of the wish to avoid war. was the order of the day. In no country but China can I conceive the extraordinary situation whereby nationals of another country are permitted to land armed forces and take the law into their own hands. I found here that the Japanese visitors flaunted their nationality in the face of the submissive Chinese. I saw a body of tourists ill Peiping. flying Japanese flags on their cars, definitely insult Chinese, without provocation. (To be Concluded.)