CHINESE IN FRANCE.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16208, 10 May 1918, Page 8

CHINESE IN FRANCE.

9 FIXE WORK BEHIXD THE LINE. (From Hamilton Fyfe.) WAR CORRESPONDENTS' HEADQCA£,TEiiS, FKANCE, February 15. "Thi.i is a queer and odd war," an L'lsterwan said to me the other day. I havre not felt its queerneis and odcines3 moro forcibly borne in upon me tnan I did tnis afternoon wnen, in the midst of a great i' reach forest, I came across a. Lmnese compound, and watched Chinese coolies, who until about a month ago had never Handled an ase, cutting down trees witn the dert sKiil and swiftness of Canadian loggers. During the past montu, sinco the experiment was started, tnoy have cleared large areas of the forest. Tney have also been successful as charcoal burners. Charcoal is usexul in the trenches for cooking. Last year we had to buy large quantities. Tnis year we shall almost supply ourselves —airother illustration or tne businesslike foresight of "Q.," the QuartermasterGeneral's' Department of our Army. "They seem to bo putting thoir backs into if I said, while we looked on at some swinging axes, some trimming off stumps with adzes, some neatly stacking the picket-posts for barbed wire and "the facines—bundles of brushwood used for making paths both in the trenches and outside them. "Yes,'' said the Canadian major in command, "that's because "we put them on task-work. We say to them, 'There's a certain job to be done. As soon as it's finished you can go home, and you'll find your chow-chow waiting for you.' That speeds the -work up better than anything. It keeps them in a good Humour, too." They certainly looked a most contented and good-humoured lot. Like the islanders of Rumtifoo in the ballad, they "enjoy a joke as much as you and laugh at it as such," and their faces light up very readily with broad grins. Later I saw them drawing rations in the compound, and I understood one reason for their contentment. Twice a day they get a good meat stew with either rice or a peculiar make of almost unleavened bread, to which they are accnstonied, and tea. Thoir midday meal, which, they take with them to their work, is tread and cheese or bacon, and they cannot drink cold •water —it makes them ill. They are a cleanly folk; their huts are tidy, and in a big bath-house they tub in almost boiling water with luxurious enjoyment. A good many are clever conjurers and jugglers. On the Chinese New 1 ear's -Day the officers got up a juggling competition, and saw them perform some astonishing tricks. That night they were allowed to gamble, and most of them indulged in their ruling passion to the,exclusion of sleep; yet at 7 o'clock next morning they were on their way to work as cheerfully as usual. Though they get only- lOd a day, the rest of their wages going to their families in China, some of them, presumably the lucky gamblers', have plenty of money to spend. The captain's "boy" had just bought a 22s watch and a 25s ring. They are very fond of wearing European hats. I met one who had his Chines© costume topped by a, black felt hat of the shape worn by Mr Winston Churchill. Two others had grey soft felts, of which they were comically proud. In the part- of the forest already cleared and given over to charcoal burning were many "big mounds of smoking earth. Inside these mounds the wood is heaped and allowed to smoulder for eight days; then it is taken out as charcoal. Canadian Foresters have taught the "Chinks" now to pack and tend and draw the contents of the kilns, as well as the art; ind mystery of logging. , respect _ and liking for the Chinks ' feelings I learn long ago in British Columbia have been deepened. I rhes© coolies are doing good work for lis m this as in other directions. A [lumber of them are skilled mechanics ind carpenters, some of whom are at vork in the Tank department, and ;000 good men. have grone out from the orest to take their places in the fightng ranks, relieved by the cheerful Jhmee.