CITY OF FEAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 201, 25 August 1937, Page 12

CITY OF FEAR.

INTIMATE SHANGHAI. WHERE WAR CLOUDS LOOM. N.Z. SOLDIER . LOOKS ON. Shanghai, city of the East, where men of. all colours congregate, where an international volunteer force keeps order (or tries to),'where the white man has bis pla<Se in surroundings of intrigue, where constantly there is' fear, and peace means only the quiet before the storm —Shanghai, where now shells are bursting, is intimately revealed in a series of letters written from there to a friend in Auckland by Lieutenant-Colonel N. W. M. Thoms, who was commander of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps between 1931 and 1933. Colonel Thoms, a New Zealand soldier with a distinguished record, saw Shanghai as few other men who saw it in recent years can have seen it, and he wrote of it: "Shanghai is the most wonderful, most interesting city in the world—very ugly—but interesting because it is so cosmopolitan. In the Shanghai Volunteer Corps I have men of 21 different races, grouped in 12 units, each of which trains according to different methods. Adding to the spice of life there i* always the chance of active service being wished on fta at half an hour's notice. The police are armed to the teeth, and bandits kidnap and rob in open daylight ... a change from the paper warfare of New Zealand."

Bays of Change. His story was told in a series of letters written during his stay in the city that is now so prominently in the news, and it gave a cross-section of life in the East as witnessed it. s "One meets such interesting people, of 40 or 50 nationalities, in a- way no- one could possibly do in any - other job in the whole world. One gets invited to the homes of influential Chinese and eats meet extraordinary food with chopsticks, then the next day one has to go ta an orthodox Russian Church service at midnighfrand hold tapers while the -choir sings most magnificently, then possibly a voyage of exploration in the slum area where fighting will probably take' place, and so on, something different every day." Colonel Thoms tells of his two-com-pany battalion of White Russian troops —''wonderful fellows, who can beat the Guards at drill quite easily." They "present arms" to him when- he goes on parade, and, in answer to his salutation, chant in Russian, "Good health and happiness to you, O Colonel." They arc nearly all ex-Imperial Life Guard Oili- [ cers, and are covered in medals and [decorations. Again, he writes: "The place is chock-full of interest. No one 'knows what will happen next. . . . The [Chinese are in one sense quite lovable, but in another quite despicable. Individually one likes them, but they are so corrupt, vain and jealous that they are impossible to deal with."

At that time, late in 1931, there was something of a boom there, he wrote, but there was very little work for Englishmen. "I am besieged with Anzacs who are down on their uppers, and thifi is a beastly place to starve in. . . . The Chinese have no mercy. I have made many little trips into the Chinese city, and places where Europeans do not usually frequent. . . . They do not like us, and woe betide you if you have an accident with them. My Chinese company of volunteers are just about as eteady on parade as the old Nelson invincibles; they are the sons of wealthy I tradesmen, bankers and so forth, whose | interest it is that the safety of the | Settlement is maintained. They arc delightfully mannered and willing to learn."

Awaiting the Spark. - "So far we have succeeded in keeping the peace, but there is always in existence an enormous amount of inflammable material, which a spark some day will alight, and a big anti-foreign attitude will result." He refers again to his Russian unit: earn every bit they get, and are very hard worked—having an unusually hard time on guard dutv, rarely getting two consecutive nights in bed, and now that the Japanese trouble is ori (that was December, 1931) have almost incessant street patrols to do." Then there are other aspects of the life. "To-day is American Independence Day. I have just returned from an enormous jamboree which began at the American Consulate and is now going on at the American Club. Champagne flowed like water—l've got a touch of 'tummy* and so have to go easy. There i® cholera about, and one cannot be too careful. This is the most wonderful place for entertainment of the sort I have just referred to. I have never done so much junketing in my life, but one soon gets tired of it, notwithstanding the fact that it makes for *»ood feeling." °

X Sweltering summer with its humid heat up to 102' degrees, ar.l Colonel Thorns wrote: "It is now 5 a.m. and a lovely cool morning for a change. The sun ia starting to gefc through the mist —reveille is sounding 'in the British camp about" 500 yards' away and the band is just beginning to play. On the river about two miles away the ships' .foghorns are blasting away to clear the sampans from their track. It is most ipleasant." ' ' zi>

Trailing Their Coats. But his work calls for incessant attention in the city of fear. "We shall need our little force again soon (if. I am toot mistaken) for the Chinese are beginning to trail their coats in front of the Japanese and make- themselves a nuisance generally. The police here have a system of 'riot vans' and always have about 50 men in each police station ready for dealing with small riots. The vans hold about that' number and are like a fire brigade. On top is a Thompson machine gun, tear gas apparatus and a most frightful sounding siren, which I think puts the wind up the Chinese. I always keep a company of Russians standing by and the British troops do the same. In addition the whole garrison can mobilise very quickly; but, of course, our political riots are numbered by the million." Again the lighter side of life with a descriptiort of a drive to Nanking by road (all armed because of fear of bandits) through "country that was reminiscent of New Zealand," where the people were all smiles, though some had never before seen foreigners. And of Shanghai, where "the hotels are very good, bright and bustling—dances every night to which the ordinary folk of the town go. Some are very brilliant, uniforms and decorations. In a way Shanghai is brighter than London for the ordinary person here gets an insight into official life denied to his fellow in London.

"The day before yesterday was the Japanese Emperor's birthday (1933). and the reception at the Ministry was a typical Shanghai affair—uniforms of 30 nationalities—and champagne galore. At noon the old Minister pot on to a little platform and said: 'Excellencies, with your permission we will give three hanzois for the Emperor of Japan.' and we banzoied- And so it goes on."

Before the Storm. An interesting and a colourful land, where each day bring* change—even if it is. bombs and shells over the city— but not a place to go job hunting in. He records now he found that workmen went steadily ".at, it from 0 a.m. to midnight for aif; equivalent of sd. Not a place for the penniless white man: "It is most interesting to ride through the brilliantly lit streets and see the whole population of the less fortunate classes pegging out their claim for their bit of pavement on which to sleep the night. The police are a kindly lot and don't move them on as they would in Auckland." Shanghai—where now the war clouds have loomed and broken! The Volunteer Corps will be doing little "junketing," but, many patrols. In one of his last letters Colonel Thomas wrote: "Possibly, though, it is the lnll before the storm. For the Japanese are most arrgrefsive. eml who knows where next thry will break out? I think that next year they will take Peking and a ffootl slice of North China, and if they do that who knows what the repercussions will be! But this is a country where tho unexpected happens, and perhaps our worries will have another cause."