Manawatu Daily Times China’s Famine Problems

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7169, 17 March 1930, Page 6

Manawatu Daily Times China’s Famine Problems

Efforts to check the famine in the provinces of Shansi, Kansu and Shensi, where 2,000,000 persons were reported to have perished in eight months, bring into sharp relief certain steps which are necessary in the solution of China's internal problems. The difficulties encountered in dealing with recurrent food shortages indicate the enormous task which faces the Nanking regime in its efforts to weld a unified Republic from the segments of a crumpled Empire. The causes of the present tragic situation are two-fold, but to divide rigidly between them is to face a predicament. The hunger that marches in the Far East is partly due to the physical characteristics of the country. It also is the result of conditions of purely political origin. Millions of Chinese exist upon a marginal basis so narrow that anything less than a normal year involves them in dire want. With the least semblance of drought, chao tche, “little to eat,” becomes a common plaint. Added to this is the difficulty of transportation, which accounts for the existence of large food supplies at one point while thousands of persons a few hundred miles away have been reduced to gruel made from leaves and clay. Relief is made still more difficult by the Central Government’s lack of contact with the nation at large. The village continues, as it has for centuries, to be the major governmental unit, a heritage of numerous dynasties which were interested solely in the collection of taxes. The villages have few interests beyond their own borders, a fact which hampers co-operative effort in the solution of mutual problems. In addition, the situation is complicated by the depredations of bandits, the stringent exactions of the war lords and the conditions which have followed civil conflict.

And yet, not far back in China’s history is the proof that these conditions can be met and overcome. When the Manchus were extending the country to its greatest boundaries, the Emperor K’ien-lung paid “surprise” visits to the remotest provinces, despite the difficulties of transportation. Dikes and canals were constructed and kept in excellent repair. Warehouses were built and filled during the good years, with the result that the lean periods took a lesser toll. It is true all this was accomplished with an essentially militaristic purpose. But similar accomplishments surely are attainable with modern tools used in the interests of peace. Meanwhile, the relief work is being directed by the International Famine Relief Commission, which has been functioning for the last eight years. Its efforts are contributing toward the establishment of permanent remedies. It is characteristic of the commission’s operations that instead of distributing “doles,” it provides employment in road buiMing. Thus the relief work serves the dual purpose of aiding the individual temporarily and the country at large permanently.

The first night express from New ■Plymouth to Wellington ran through Palmerston North just before two o'clock this morning. It consisted of one sleeper and two carriages, while 28 passengers were on bo&rd. Two got off at Palmerston North while five joined the train for Wellington.

In a recent review of tho number of applicants to join the British Army, only about twenty-five per cent, of the applicants passed tho medical examiner. One of the most frequent causes of rejection being defective vision. Eyesight defects and their remedy receive careful and painstaking care by Mr. Samuel Barry of Messrs. 'Barry and Freeman Ltd. Mr. Barry will bo visiting Palmerston North from March 20, to March 22, and may be consulted at thglr Rooms, firoaiwayf i

It is understood that Mr Frank

Grose, the ex New Zealand champion amateur cyclist, and Miss Elaine Martyn, the present Dominion 100 yafds amateur champion, are to appear at a meeting to be conducted by the 'Hastings Amateur Afcheltic Club on March 19.

Donovan was not the only one who was tired after the now historic boxing match at New Plymouth on Saturday. One well-known Palmerston North enthusiast, who had “taken the count” on the train journey down received a nasty jab when lie woke up beyond his destination, and he had to make his way. back yesterday from Slyugton, thq aext stop (