PEKING PEACE CONFERENCE

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26857, 9 October 1952, Page 10

PEKING PEACE CONFERENCE

CANTON WELCOME TO DELEGATES IMPRESSIONS OF MR L. C. J. SOUTHON A description of the “royal welcome” given delegates to the Peking peace conference when they arrived at Canton in the middle of last month is contained in a letter to the Christchurch Peace Council from Mr L. C. J. Southon, the secretary of the Christchurch Tramway Workers’ Union. “The people are just wonderful and gave us a royal welcome,” Mr Southon said. “Flowers, singing, cheering, everything in. We were overwhelmed at the reception. The things which struck me most are the spotless cleanliness and happiness of the people. They are never tired of talking about what they have achieved since, as they call it, the ‘liberation’. I have spoken to people of all walks. One of the girls in a shop tells me that they receive the same pay as the men. Increases or differences in salary are based on ability and willingness to serve the people. “Our waiter says he is happy since the liberation because he can now talk to the people he waits on. Formerly he could not do this. A teacher holding an M.A. degree in the Peking University told me that she gets 400,000 dollars a month and spends only half of \her salary. Each month she spends less. Two reasons —‘l have all I want (clothes, pens, etc.), and living costs are decreasing all the time.’ Some experienced workers get as much as three times this amount, she said, but of course she does not pay for board—that is free.

“And so it goes on,” Mr Southon said. “From children to the oldest they talk of the liberation. And you would have to see them to realise how happy they are. This is not so in Hong Kong or Kowloon, but I will tell you about that when I return.

“We have at our disposal a fleet of the most modern cars. Cars are not plentiful, but there is a number here and they are all new. I have been through the shops. They have everything here that you have over there. One big store had in it all things from typewriters to motor-bicycles, materials, toys, books —all things but food. (There were oceans of sweets and tinned foods.) Food, that is perishable foodstuffs, is sold only in shops set up for that purpose. “Cleanliness Almost a Fetish”

“All along the railway line were fruit stalls and collapsible tables full of fruit,” Mr Southon said. “If an apple so much as comes into contact with the floor, it cannot be sold. One woman upset her table and had to gather up the fruit, put it in the basket and take it away. Cleanliness is almost a fetish here, and the trains are roomy and very clean. The hotel we are in is a real palace. Each bedroom has its own convenience and bathroom. They are beautifully furnished, with writing desks and sitting room suites. Some of them have a separate sitting room as well. We are supplied with everything, even toothbrush, tooth paste, and slippers by our bed. ‘There is a terrific construction plan going on here —houses, football fields, swimming baths and recreation grounds being built everywhere. Some of them are huge projects and employ thousands of workers. This is China. I’ll have a lot to tell, and we are only as far as Canton. Of course there are thousands of old houses, some bombed out, but they are fast disappearing.” The letter is signed “HSIO-DO-DO (Little Brother).”