VAST ARMY SCHEME OF CHINA.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 38, Issue 966, 29 May 1908, Page 1

VAST ARMY SCHEME OF CHINA.

A Frenchman who has been making a study o£ the Chinese army warns Europe that it is not inconceivable that within ten years China maybe able to oppose to the white nations of the world a thoroughly drilled and 1 equipped -force, of 40,000,000 of soldiers. It is quite certain, he thinks, that it will Jhave the biggest army in the world—at least 6,000,000 men ready to mobolise at short notice and equal in courage, drill, and equipment to any European troops. Thi5,6,000,000 is provided for by present plans." The increase to the maximum ' figure means nothing but a little more effort—a draft on the wealth of the ■ population, which is .trivial when spread over so vast a population. The writer fears that, stimulated by their own remarkable performances in army making up to date, the Chinese rulers may make a change in their plans.at any time.and may do it without taking Europe into their confidence . .

The new Chinese army had its inception about 1889, .when the' late Marshall Ma issued an. order abolishing the red'umbrellas'which ithe Chinese soldiers used to .take into the field with them. Ma was an able organiser, and the sort of soldiers that were produced under his management was revealed to Occidentals in 1900, when the capture of the Taku forts took place. Fighting Chinese soldiers previous to that encounter-had been little better than massacre; butthe defenders of the Taku forts, and those of and of Chan Hi Huan,. armed with modern rifles and having Armstrong and Krupp cannon, fought not only with desperate bravery, but with discipline; They gave pretty nearly.as good an account of themselves as' an equal number of European troops would have-done.

When China caught her breath in 1900. she realised that these were the only troops worth having. Rejecting- the plans submittetd by her British adviser Sir Robert Hart for the creation of a miniature army of four divisions, to be developed in the course of ten years, the Lien Ping Pu, or Council of boldly-adopted a scheme of evolution which would seem startling in any country. It contemplated the creation .of twenty army corps of two divisions each, •each division comprising two brigades of infantry, a regiment' of artillery, and one of cavalry, a battalion of enigne.ers, and a battalion of supply train. ' ISach brigade was to be conipoed of four regiments of three battalions of 300 men each.

A scheme of local recruiting was adopted, with a period of active service of nine years, to be followed by seven years of reserve, with a month's drill each year. The creation of twenty five schools of cadets with" a pacity to furnish 40,000 officers in the first three years and an annual contingent of 1500 thereafter, was also decreed, and a primary levy of 500,000 men was made. The viceroys of the various provinces were further ordered to •. include in their budgets a sufficient tax for the support of this force. No exact estimate of, the revenue needed was to be made, however till the Government had"" 80/000 men in active service and. 4,000,000 in .the .reserve. There are actually at the present" time, according'to the French authority

420,000, men armed and drilled ihY modern' style, organised fifteen army eo?ps, with capable officers*. t There are no more red umbrellas and no more' "banners inscribed with threats before v/hich the enemyis supposed to run way. Every soldier' has for the time being a Mauser rifle' and pleny of ammunition, which he is taught to burn with good effect. But . the Chinese " have devised a magazine rifle of their- own which they consider .much better than any now • in use Jn Europe and which is, .besides, the only rifle in the world ! the mechanism of which is an; ' absolute "secret. Six arsenals ha%'e been established with proper" machinery" for making this arm. They ; are working night and day, and it is said that they can turn out 3000 -guns a week. A very important detail is that the new army is regularly paid A serviceable uniform has ■ been adopted for the troops. Zouave" trousers _ are tuckted into half boots. The soldier on parade wears a neat tunic with belt, but in active service he is clad in a flannel shirt over which he wears cross belts to carry his kimpsack and cartridge case. The men are of fine physique, and the health in the-army is said to be excellent. They are as easily fed as the Japanese They are completely disciplined,' and with the ' Chinese indifference to death, which-has been displayed under' the most disastrous conditions, it seems as if they might, man for man, prove equal to the best Europen 'troops.

-, There is - a fair supply .of field and mountain artillery and the supply of Krupp siege, guns is steadily increasing. 70.00 cadets are at present in the military schools and 900 pupil officers as they are called are re-, . ceiving higher instruction in ordnance strategy and tactics at four superior schools. A military academy which is to occupy somewhat the position of ' our own war college is being organised in Pekin. The Frenchman --.ki mates that- the expense of the arn\y or- a basis of a million active k.r.z" d-j>oa million jeserve soldiers will i:>.~ ' - an..' increased burden ot more " than five cents ahead on the population of Chinal Even so poor a 'people can stand this and the Government : 'and, ; the people have griwn J so - proud of - the army that he sees no hope' of - any slacking—in" its - "This is the real ' yellow peril' is .. the. conclusion he draws. " -