BANDITRY IN THE EAST

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21117, 19 March 1934, Page 10

BANDITRY IN THE EAST

POPULAR PROFESSION TROI RLI'S OK MAMIUKIA AND CHINA The father en a family in Manchuria, thinking of the future of his sons, sorts out the most promising lad and puts him not into the priesthood, the law or business, as fathers in other lands might, but into banditry. -That." said Dr. F. A. Oetkcn. a German scientist, now in New Zealand after a tour that included Manchukuo. "is the truth. When you hear stories of banditry in the new state you must remember it is not a new invention. It is a preferred profession there." When Dr. Oetken travelled through the country in the Chinese Eastern Railway two or three

months ago. no bandits appeared, and the guard of about 30 Manchukuo troops, with Japanese officers, had no work to do. But in the next four weeks the train was held up three times in the mountains north of Harbin, where there is always danger. The technique of the Manchurian train bandit is simple. With about 2000 others he proceeds to the railway line and makes preparations that will result in the derailing of the next train. When that happens, he and his colleagues kill the guards, rob the passengers, and carry of! some of the wealthiest as hostages. Next day, the bandits are far away, and help comes for the wrecked train, which is put back on the line, and the frightened passengers go on to their destination.

Reducing Numbers The whole country, said Dr. Oetken, was pretty unsafe for travel- : lers once a city was more than 10 i miles or so away, but the Japanese ! were doing their best to make | banditry a less popular occupation. ' They were, naturally, keen to pre- : sent an improving picture, and they j claim that in the 12 months ended |in October last they had reduced \ the number of bandits from 275,000 ho 75.000. This pacification (whether |as great as claimed or not) was I obviously good for trade, but only \ for Japanese trade. The Japanese would not allow other nations to do business in Manchukuo. i Banditry existed on a large scale I in China, too. making travelling on Ithe south coast too dangerous to be | worth while, and in many inland districts impossible. The most striking tiling about lawlessness in China, however, was the way in \vhich the character of the frequent .civil wars had changed. j ''Three or four years ago indi- : vidual generals collected small armies and began little wars of their own," said Dr. Oetken. "Usually there was very little fighting. Most of the hostilities took the form of conferences between the leaders, and very often the situation changed very quickly when money passed. In the last three years the nature of the civil wars has changed ! very much, because the Nanking I Government and some of the provincial governments have bought modern armaments. The independent generals cannot afTord these, so civil wars arc now more usually between parts of the country than between individuals.''