FAMINE IN CHINA

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 61, 15 March 1929, Page 11

FAMINE IN CHINA

APPEAL BY THE MAYOR

LIST TO BE OPENED

The Mayor., Mr. G. A. Troup, to-day made an appeal to citizens to accord what practical sympathy, they can to the great numbers who are suffering in China from the serious famine iii three great provinces..

Mr. Gus H. Jackson, the ActingConsul tOr the Bepublic of China, said Mr. Troup, had sent to him a' letter which'spoke for itself: —,

The National Government of China lias advised me that owing to famine the sufferings of the people iv the provinces of Ivansu, Shtensi, and Hbnan are such that outside help is urgently required, and has instructed me to appeal to the Chinese residents of New Zealand to subscribe towards the relief of their suffering countrymen. '■■.'.'■ My Government, when instructing uio to collect subscriptions in New Zealand, said that an influential committee had been formed in Shanghai to superintend the distribution, and that Messrs. Wing On and Co. (an important commercial house) had been'appointed treasurers for the receipt and, custody of moneys subscribed in i'Australia, anil New Zealand.

:At a meeting.of the local Chinese held in tho Tong; Jang Association iv Frederick street on the 3rd instant, the sum of .over £100 was subscribed, and a committee consisting of myself and. fifteen leading Chinese merchants was formed to make a canvass of the Chinese in Wellington and . throughout -the Dominion. The .first instalment of £100 was • remitted •by cable to Messrs. Wing On and Co. to-day. Although my Government did riot instruct me to ask for help from any but Chinese residents, I feel sure that any help sent from the European'resi-

donts of Wellington and elsewhere in

New Zealand would" be very gratefully received by the people and the Government of, China. Mr. Troup added that ho had also received a letter from Mr. Selwyn King suggesting that he (Mr. Troup) should make an appeal to the citizens of Wellington to tend what assistance they may.'; DKEADFUL CONDITIONS. A Press, Association cablegram which recently appeared in tho Post, 1' continued Mr. Troup, gave ample proof of the urgency.of, the position:—• The countryside' -is littered with skeletons and the dead and dying. Not a single animal is left. All have been eaten. Thousands are subsisting on a horrible porridge made of powdered 'grass, and there ; are many instances of cannibalism. In one village a hundred families committed suicide. In the village of Sunyan 70,000 are completely desti-! tiite, hundreds are dead in the streets and left unburied. Several thousand famished 'natives, maddened by hunger, attacked the outskirts of Sianfu, and were driven'off by the military with great slaughter. The district is over-ridden with disease

causing blindness. The authorities are unable to copo with the position.

"For the cause of our common humanity," concluded Mr. Troup, "I feel!sure there are many citizens of Wellington who desire to , show some practical sympathy with the Chinese people undergoing at this time such terrible suffering and privation. I have already received two donations," which will be acknowledged, along with any others received, in an early issue of the "Evening Post."

The "Evening Post" will be pleased to acknowledge any contributions which may be sent to Mr. Troup or to this office.