GRAPHIC STORY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 235, 4 October 1937, Page 8

GRAPHIC STORY.

HORRORS OF WAR. MOTHER AND HER SON. ARRIVAL IN AUCKLAND. 'BLACK SATURDAY' DESCRIBED Two refugee* from S b.i ni. luii, Mrs, C, F. I'.n '"i and her son lloduev aged five yrai'ik, nr-ived by the \.ir.inu'i from Sydney llii* morning. Mm. I ivlor has lived fourteen \ ea lis ilt shaugi where her li'lsb Hal is an eleeti •il engineer for the -li.in.'.. ii ( "ist. ue ion ('.. np.iny. and -'i.> is now on her way to \i«it relative* in lhuicdin. Mrs. Taylor said that she lias known four wars in China, but the present, one wh* the mo"! dreadful of all. Bombs in Crowded Streets. She graphically de-eribed the imw historic "Itl.ick Snlurday" in Shanghai when ( hinenc aeroplanes trie<l to attack the .lapane<e llagship, Iving ~ff the Japanese Consulate, in the Whanzpoo Liver, the dropping by the 'planes of bombs which fell in the International Settlement, the firing by Japanese antiaircraft gnus to try and keep the 'plane* «iIT, mid the heavy loss of life that occurred In crowded Shanghai streets.

Then Mrs. Taylor went on to describe the evacuation of the British national' Ist*, and said that the British Navy played a wonderful part. The women and children were assembled', thoy were taken on a tender and then transferred to a gunboat for conveyance down.the river to tho mouth at Woosung where the P. and O. liner Rajputana was at anchor. On the way down the river there was constant firing between the opposing forces, and tho nerves of many women were at breaking point. Two thousand women and children were crammed on the Rajputana. Some women had babies in arms. Wliilo tho liner lay there Shanghai wm being continuously bombed, and a Japanese warship opened fire on Chinese soldiers hastily digging trenches on the hank of the river. When tho Rajputana began her run to Hongkong passengers shared their cabins, and those who had no beds slept on wheel* of paper on the deck. Some of the women passengers could not s"peak. Their nerves were completely, shattered. They 1 just walked about with wild eyes and their minds a complete blank.

Camp at Hongkong. On arrival at Hongkong the British community did everything possible for the refugees, and a special camp was opened at the Happy Valley racecourse. Mm. Taylor did not dwell on the scenes of carnage in Shanghai, but added that people who were not there could not realise tho terrible plight of the British women and children. It was Impossible for day* to obtain news of friends, or how they had fared. Her own home was in the French Concession. She had to walk out and. leave everything.. -On coming away «he wm only allowed to take one trunk. All the monoy that she had was 50 dollars. It. was Impossible to get any more, as the banks had shut down. Mrs. Taylor got in touch with her husband from Hongkong, but since- thon she has not heard from him.