PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2779, 19 June 1907, Page 85

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

" SIGNS AND PORTENTS IN THE FAR

EAST."

La&t week I promised to give you a little more insight into this book, and to show you that the Eastern nations are awakening. In my notes below I have referred to Hankow and its bister cities. These alone have a population which has been estimated to be over two millions, or more than twice the population of New Zealand. With the neighbouring populations these triple cities contain more souls than the whole of Ausrtralasia. "CHINESE IN BRITISH TERRITORY."

This is the heading of one chapter, and a very suggestive chapter it is. In Calcutta the Chinese are fast establishing themselves, and though they demand twice the wages of skilled natives, yet they are preferred. Imagine Chinese going out on .«trike in British territory! That really happened in 1900, when Chinese fitters in the Calcutta dockyards went out on strike and* delayed the transports carrying 30,000 troops to the Telief of the Peking legations. Why, Chinese from Calcutta, Burmah, and the Straits Settlements enter horses for the Viceroy's Cup at Calcutta, which is the Derby of Asia. Ia Rangoon the Chinaman controls much of the inland trade. "He imports pickled tea from the Shan States, and sells the Bunnan the pink eilk "loonghi/ often woven in China and dyed in Manchester,"' which is the national wear. He competes seiiously m the lice and timber trades, aud lias ivor&

than a hafil in the silver and jade mines on • the frontier. He is respected, and considered, if not always permanent, a citizen of the British Empire, and when asked about his Emperor in Peking has been known to protest with warmth thatbe has no Emperor but his Majesty King Edward." Further on, referring to the Straits Settlements, Mr Cotes— he is an Indian journalist remember — says that the extraordinary prosperity there would not have been possible without Chinese industry to supplement British enterprise, because the climate is too enervating to allow the white man to do manual work;

"The Federated Malay Strates, which represent an annual trade of 13 million sterling, depend lor their revenue upon tin ore, for which Chinese are the principal miners." ! I wish I had space for the picturesque • description, given of Singapore ; but through it all runs the Chinese, especially as coolies and navvies. Is there a railway to be laid or a dock to be dug? Chinese, if not already there > in sufficient numbers, are indentured from Canton and elsewhere, and the work is done with despatch. From Singapore the journalist went to Hongkong and Canton, where he found the anti-foreign movement very rampant. The "China-for-the-Chinese movement" seems to have taken a strong hold in all the sea and river ports. In Canton the Cantonese, wfio are called the Bengali of China, and who are described as more .' quick-witted and cunning than the more manly races of the northern provinces, are particularly bitter, and are at the head of the boycotting movement which caused co much anxiety some time ago, just as the boycotting and agitating are causing : so much uneasiness in India just now. I In addition to the patriotic movement — [ for that is what it really is — the arsenals are being enlarged and brought up-to-date ; > iron mines are being opened up and emelt- ; ing works erected ; and in various other j ways it is shown that China is rousing herself from her stupor. "HANKOW AND ITS FACTORIES." Here and there are splendid bits which j •would make excellent , geographical read- j ing. Here, instance, are three or four , paragraphs adapted from the chapter with j my heading. Take your atlas down first and look Hankow up. Close at hand "aie the best rifle factory in China and the biggest iron and steel -works in Asia." Here, too, are cotton mills and a mint. "But Hankow, with its annexe, the crowded Chinese city of Hanyang, and its vis-a-vis across the Yangtse, that human hive Wuchang, is becoming a centre of industries which profoundly affect the entire country. Hankow is 600 miles from the sea, yet even ocean steamers cast anchor opposite its fine esplanade and busy -wharves. It is the terminus of a railway by which one may already travel through the heart of China "to Peking, and thus through Siberia to Moscow and Calais. Its air is thick with factory coal smoke, yet the fresh aroma that crushed green tea alone produces pervades whole streets in the European quarters, and makes one imagine oneself back in a garden in Assour. "At Hankow the river rises and falls hy forty feet with the alternate melting and freeezing of snow two thousand miles j off in the highlands of Central Asia. | Hundreds of coolies are constantly engaged in consequence adding to the strength of the wide, granite-faced bur.d that already extends five miles along the river banks. . . - It is upon the bund that the English, Russian, German, iFrench, and Japanese concessions are arranged, one ( after the other, so that each nation owns * strip of river frontage." Details are given of the efforts made by some of the nations to impress the Chinese, the , Germans making a garish display of red trick and gilt official eagles. The shipping' industry" up xiver and eeajrards is, as yon may imagine, very extensive. "Two British lines of flatbottomed, three*stoi?eyed; arks, with room fte\two thousand Chinese coolies on deck, apd" sumptuous accommodation for first-:

class passengers above, stump the river by the aid of the best engines that Scotland can build. A Chinese line imitates them, and a French one outdoes them in electric-lighted top-heaviness. . . ." " Raw Yangtse cotton stares blanchfaced out of coffin-shaped craft . . . as they buffet their way with pleated) mainsails to Wuchang, where Bteam-driven boats and spinning jennies whirr in th© factories'. Gunny-covered bales, bursting with Bombay yarn, still lumber heavily ashore from tbe river steamers, but Chang-Chi-Tung's mills know that their day is coming." "The brick -tea industry is divided between mandarin and Russian factories. The tea is fired at the gardens up country and then brought down to Hankow to be compressed into smooth black blocks. The extent and machinery of the factories where the compressing is done is a reve-

lation. . . . Viewed from the river, the smoking chimney shafts are almost as imposing as those of tbe industrial front of Calcutta. Electrically -lighted premises emit the roar of machinery far into the night. Some of the processes are kept confidential, but the main operation of squeezing damp tea-leaves into solid masses appears to be simplicity itself. Both Russians and Chinese employ Sikhs to guard their premises. The labourers are all Chinese, who labour behind closely-locked doors."'

Then follows a full description of the arsenal, and the iron and steel works managed by Chinese. who employ foreigners as foremen. At first Britishers were engaged, but as they do best when they are on top, and were always having differences with the managers, they had to give way to Germans, who pocketed! their £600 a year and* bonus and asked no questions ; these, however, are being displaced by Japanese, -who do the work well for very much less.

Now, what the Chinese are doing the Japanese are doing too — " only more so "' ; and Mr Cotes ha« some very interesting chapters on the Britain of the East. Is it reasonable to suppose that two such nations will much longer tolerate being treated in the manner they are? Do you think that Northern Australia, if it rent afns unpopulated by whites^ — and even if it is filled up, — will be immune from attack for an indefinite time . It is hardly likely.

— "George," Bhe said, "before we wore married you were always giving me presents. Why don't you ever bring me anything now?" — "My doar," replied George "did you ever hear of a fisherman giving bait to a fish he had caught?" Then the kettle boiled over.

— A landlubber shipped as a sailor. The first nisht he was on deck the look-out saw three lights — red, green, and white (the port, starboard, and masthead) — of an aproachinp; vessel. "Ahoy, there !"' shouted th* officer on deck. "What's that cominp ahead of us?"' "I am not quit« 6ure,"' replied the greenhorn, "but I think it's a chemist's shop !"

" WluU- riding aoross th« bridge to Si ratford," says Mr H. Crawford, of Cardiff, N.Z., " mv horeo slipped, coming down on my leg and bruising it very badly As econ as 1 got home I bathed the limb m TeTy hot water, and then had Chamberlain's Pain Balm thoroughly rubbed in. Have always been a, believer in this liniment and «m more so now, for in two days' tim« th© soreness had nearly disappeared. mad. within a week I was «c fit as ever." Fa'i saia everywhere.