TRAGEDY OF THE REFUGEES.

Evening Star, Issue 23101, 29 October 1938, Page 16

TRAGEDY OF THE REFUGEES.

People in the democratic countries of the world are harrowed by the plight of countless refugees in parts of Europe and in China. It seems impossible to give help to these unfortunates that will sensibly relieve their distresses. Individual effort is merely a drop in a bucket, so far ns the major problem is concerned, in the West if the League of Nations took the initiative, and in co-operation with Llritain, America, and other Powers, obtained suitable territory and devised a comprehensive scheme something practical might be accomplished. With the stricken populations of China it is even more difficult. As a result of the havoc caused by the Japanese the numbers dispossessed of their homes are so great and the areas affected so widely scattered that the framing of an effective plan of relief seems impossible. When the Japanese were closing in on Hankow crowds fled from this great city into the surrounding districts. How they could be expected to live is a mystery, for the inhabitants themselves always have had a desperate struggle for existence. At the same time the attack on Canton was proceeding, and when the city fell harrowing scenes were reported, thousands of homeless people, without food, being huddled in the streets. Hundreds who were injured by the bombings were turned out from the hospitals, the staffs of which had been evacuated. Prisoners liberated from the gaols were among the aimless throngs. ' Hongkong, which is about ninety miles down river from 'Canton, has been flooded with refugees, presenting a most difficult problem for the British Administration in this Crown Colony. Hongkong has always been used as a city of refuge for the Chinese of the southern provinces when revolts and civil war have upset normal conditions of life in the interior. But never before has this colony been called upon to shelter so great an influx of Chinese. Last year, as Japanese pressure increased, the rush began. The refugees came from different regions in the country, and they were composed of all classes. Dispossessed officials from Nanking and Shanghai, educationists from the various universities and schools of the centre and the north, merchants and manufacturers from Shanghai and Hankow, farmers and labourers from the neighbouring provinces, all these flocked to Hongkong, accompanied or preceded by their families. For all practical purposes Hongkong was opened to all the distressed who flocked there. In a report issued at the beginning of August it was estimated that 250,000 people had arrived in the colony during the previous twelve months. With the fall of Hankow and Canton the question of accommodating the refugees has naturally become more acute, and the Government is consequently placed in an embarrassing position. The cost will be very heavy. Hongkong is a great centre of world commerce, but the influx of refugees must put a heavy strain on its resources. Nothing gives a clearer understanding of the horrors of war than this particular question. It is not only the refugees upon whom tragedy has fallen, but the sufferings of the people who stayed behind will, because of the disruption of the normal life of the invaded tenitories, be quite as acute