FIRE SWEEPS CITY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23196, 16 November 1938, Page 17

FIRE SWEEPS CITY

CANTON'S DESTRUCTION DELIBERATE CHINESE ACTS FAMOUS BUILDINGS RUINED [from our own correspondent] CANTON, Oct. 24 With petrol and kerosene Chinese soldiers and civilians started in Canton during the week-end the biggest manmade fire since Moscow was burned before the opposing forces of Napoleon. A city which was once the home of nearly 2,000,000 people is being rapidly consumed by the flames, which have swept through all the most important blocks, leaving nothing but ruin in their wake. The central and Bund areas are heaps of smouldering debris. Where once stood the remains of the Wongsha district, which suffered so heavily from Japanese air raids, there are now two huge craters caused when ammunition dumps exploded. The entire railway station and yards have disappeared. A locomotive, trucks, carriages and a huge pile of war material were blown up, landing hundreds of yards away in twisted shapes. Along the Bund the fire extended for two miles. Buildings destroyed included the famous Temple of the Great Buddah, the Flowery Pagoda, the Provincial and Municipal Headquarters, the Ministry of Finance, the New Asia Hotel, the Hongkong ferry wharves, the Post Office, New China Hotel, and the 14-storey Oi Kwan Hotel. Entering the city with not more than 2000 men, the Japanese were helpless to stem the fires. Just as they succeeded in extinguishing one with dynamite by making fire-breaks, the Chinese started another fire elsewhere. The present act in Canton's tragedy is set in a scene of such abomination and desolation that even the Japanese conquerors are aghast, while the flames from the fires light up their hastilyposted proclamations, wnich read: "We bring peace and prosperity, and we want all merchants to resume their business." Looting has been checked by the Japanese wherever possible, but, owing to the small number of the invaders, the city is not patrolled. •