PERILS IN CHINA

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16705, 24 July 1928, Page 12

PERILS IN CHINA

EX-AUCKLANDER'S ESCAPES MANY THREATS BY REBELS COUNTRY'S LACK OF LEADERS. The unenviable experience of being on nine separate occasions posted to lie killed was undergone in China by Mr. J. R. Ward, who is at present visiting Auckland after an absence of 25 years. He is an old hoy of Ponsonby School., and also attended the Auckland University College, and since leaving Auckland in 1903 has become a prominent figure in the wood-oil industry of China. As manager of the Fu Chung HankowWood Oil Corporation, a powerful branch of the Pekin Syndicate, Mr. Ward found himself in the midst of the trouble. He was the only " foreigner " who remained in the district during the height of the disturbances, and who was not directly protected. He remained at the refinery five miles from Hankow, and on the banks of the Yellow River. Some distance on one side of him was the installation of the Asiatic Oil Co., and on the other was the installation of the Standard Oil Co. Protecting these wero two gunboats, and in case of trouble Mr. Ward, was provided with a riot gun, to give warning of danger.

PURSUED BY A STRANGLER. " When the trouble camo the territory was overrun witli Bolshevik agents and Chinese rebels," stated Mr. Ward.

" They forced some of our Chinese officials to hand over a sum of 60,000 silver dollars, which was handy for pay purposes. At the large coal holdings of the .syndicate at Chiaotso, in the province of Honan, the rebels forced the cashier to sign a cheque for 50,0C0 dollars, but fortunately the bank heard of it in time and it was never cashed."

One morning Mr. Ward found large red posters on the walls of the refinery which stated : " This man is the running dog of the capitalist; make trouble for him, or destroy him." Soon after that about 150 Chinese endeavored •to break into the refinery, but Mr. Ward was warned in time, and fired the riot gun. Marines were soon on the spot, and the rioters were dispersed. On another occasion a professional stranglcr was put on his tracks. Fortunately, Mr. Ward suspected danger and managed to stnko the strangler before he coudd secure a grip. When he left Hankow eight months ago the refinery was closed. The oil was manufactured from a Chinese tree known as aluriles, and now there was no raw material. He had considerable interests in the business and was obliged to relinquish them. NO WISH TO GO BACK. " I have no wish to return to China," Mr. Ward said. " Things are so disorganised that I fail to see any possibility of anything being done for some years ahead. The trouble with China to-day is that she lacks a leader, and there seems no possibility of a leader at present. The late Marshal Chang Tst-lin was the strongest man in uhina. He kept his word and behaved well, but now he is gone General Feng Yuhsiang and Marshal Chang Kia-shek, the present leaders, are crafty, and not to be trusted, in addition, ttiey hate each other, and are unscrupulous." While at Hankow, Mr. Ward met the Russian adviser to the Canton Government, David Borodin. He was a powerful, rough-looking man, all the time on the move. " When I saw him he seemed to have lost heart," he added. "I was present the day he left Hankow, and passed on his journey out of China." Mr. Ward will shortly leave for Australia. He is under engagement to an influential American corporation to make investigation regarding the wood-oil industry in Australia. He has just completed a tour of the United States, and thinks that in 10 years the United States will be able to supply all her own woodoil needs. He stated the alurites tree was introduced to Florida some years ago, and was flourishing to an even greater extent than in China.