SITUATION IN CHINA

Evening Star, Issue 19454, 12 January 1927, Page 5

SITUATION IN CHINA

—+——— PROTECTION OF SHANGHAI AK UNCONFIRMED REPORT Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. SHANGHAI, January 11. An unconfirmed report states that arrangements have been made for tho despatch of 1,800 British and 2,000 American troops for Shanghai, with several thousand Japanese held in readiness in Japan to reach Shanghai in thirty-six _ hours at tho latest. Eight British destrovers have arrived at Hankow.—Sydney/Sun’ Cable. AMERICAN MARINES DEPART. MANILA, January 11. Three hundred marines from Guam have departed for Shanghai. MASSACRED BY BANDITS WHOLE TOWN EXTERMINATED SHANGHAI, January 11. (Received January 12, at 8.55 a.m.) A private message received from Shantung records the terrible massacre by bandits of tho villagers of the town of Wangvhipao, fifty miles eastward of j the birthplace of Confucius. They I actively opposed the bandits, who there- ( upon awaited reinforcements and surj rounded the village. They then set it j on fire and slaughtered all the irihabiI tauts without respect for age or sex. Some were burned to death in their homes., and others were shot while attempting to escape. Small children I were pulled to pieces. The inhabitants, numbering 1,000, were entirely exterminated.

NEW ZEALAND'S CHINESE

NEARLY ALL SOUTHERN SUPPORTERS.

A FRANK AVOWAL,

[Peb United Press Association.]

WELLINGTON, January 11. From inquiries made in Wellington amongst Chinese residents it would appear that supporters of the Southern forces are numerous in New Zealand. One young Chinaman of a highly intellgent type stated quite frankly today that three-quarters of the number of Chinese in New Zealand came from Canton, and were sympathetic towards the Southern army led by Yuan Shihkai against the Peking Government. “The Southern army will win,” he remarked. “We are going to kick all the foreigners out of China. The English play too many tricks on the Chinese, and now we are going to play tricks on tho English.” Asked to explain what he meant_ by this, tho Chinaman stated that objection was felt to the English controlling the Customs in China and taking the revenue. “How would you like it,” he asked, “ if the Chinese took oyer the Customs here? Again, if a Chinaman comes to New Zealand he has to pay £IOO to enter, hut the Englishman pays nothing to enter China. When the Nationalist forces win we shall alter that. We shall make the English pay to enter China. Again, Customs duties on Chinese goods entering New Zealand are heavy, amounting to 45 per cent., but English goods going into Canton pay only 1\ per cent. That is unfair. The Chinese want to act on the great principle 'Bo fair.’ ” “ What about the Japanese in Manchuria?” tho Chinaman was asked. “ Oh, we shall kick them out, too,” was the confident reply. It was suggested that if the Southern forces were they might have difficulty in getting rid of the Russian Reds.

“ It is not the Beds who are helping the Cantonese,” said the Chinaman. “The papers say that it is the Reds who are helping tho Cantonese, but the Reds were put out of Canton a long time ago. It is the White Russians who are helping tho Chinese.” “ If you get rid of the English will yon afterwards trade with them?” “ Oh, yes, but on equal terms.” “ And how long do you think the war will last?”

“ Fully six months,” replied the Chinaman.

EASTERN VISITOR'S IMPRESSIONS “ HO NEED FOR PESSIMISM " “I do not think there is any need for pessimism, though a good deal of discomfort may be experienced during the next eighteen months,” said Major MacGregor Knox, the representative of the British Rubber Growers’ Association, who is at present on a business visit to New Zealand, when speaking to an ‘ Evening Star ’ reporter this morning on the present alarming situation in China. Major Knox is a widelytravelled man ? with a very close knowledge of conditions in the East, ns he was connected with the rubber planting industry in the Federated Malay States for some years, and was in China as recently as eighteen months ago. He is now stationed in London. His observations, therefore, should bo of considerable interest.

The most notable feature, he said, is the change that has come over the people of China. Eighteen months ago the risings were sporadic affairs, and it was often difficult to know why the various forces were fighting. Gradually, however, these had been concentrated into one concerted movement, controlled from Canton, and a distinct showing of a Chinese national spirit. Only eighteen months ago there was little anti-foreign feeling shown at all, and Major Knox accounts the change to the propaganda that has been circulated, particularly regarding the iiims of Great Britain in the East. The British are represented as men with aims of subjecting the East, and as 95 per cent, of tho Chinese are utterly uninformed outside their own little sphere they are easy marks for agitators.

The success met with by the Southern movement has encouraged the belief _ that the Western Powers are afraid to act together. Major Knox expressed the opinion that Great Britain was in an extremely difficult position, sis sho_ was standing alone, and was not receiving the support of the other concessionary Powers. Ho thought that ultimately there would have to be some concerted action on the part of these Powers, and in the meantime Great Britain was kept well informed of the position, the Consular Service in China being the finest in the world. It was policy for Britain to stay her hand until the world knew the justice of her cause, but there was no . question but that Britain would eventually take the lead in the matter. She was prepared to reconsider the treaties with China once there was a thoroughly stable and representative Chinese Government. “There is nothing to prevent friendly relations between the British and Chinese,” said Major Knox, and he instanced the relations existing in the Straits and Federated Malay States between the British and the Chinese, who were mostly of Southern Chinese origin, though many of them had never been in China. In the Straits Settlement and Malay States there was a large and jffosper-

ous Chinese community, drawn principally from Canton, Amoy, and Swatow, and in a great number of cases they had done extraordinarily well. Many distributing and trading concerns were ‘controlled by Chinese, and the majority of retail shops were in tho hands of Chinese. Also, some of the richest and many of the smaller concerns in the tin mining industry were owned and controlled by Chinese. Most of them were loyal citizens of the British Empire, and served to illustrate just what a Chinaman was capable of under stable government. “Do they take any active part in the public life of the community?” This was a question that was put to Major Knox, and he said that there wore Chinese on the Federated Council who sat side by side with the English officials, while Chinese also occupied scats on various sports bodies. That the Chinese holding big interests in the Malay States and Straits Settlement would bo a big influence and a very useful medium for peace was the view expressed by Major Knox. Many of these Chinese had been born among Englishmen, and yet their clan was in China, and naturally their inclinations were for peace. In the Federated Malay States the bulk of the coolie labor on the rubber plantations was provided by Tamil labor, who found conditions better than was the rase in, India. Tamil laborers got the equivalent of Is 3d a day, and had to find themselves in food and clothes. There was also a good deal of Chinese labor employed in_ clearing the jungle and on the tin mines, but it was more expensive than the Indian, though the Chinese were better workers. Usually the Chinese preferred to work on. contract.

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