JAPAN IN MANCHUKUO

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19132, 29 September 1936, Page 11

JAPAN IN MANCHUKUO

AUSTRIAN’S IMPRESSIONS INDUST R L\! j EXPANSION STATE OWNERSHIP Tlis capture by Chinese bandits in tho new Japanese of Manclmkuo was only one of tho adventures of Air. Rudolf Cerney, the young .Austrian journalist, now in Wellington, who is making his way around Ihe world, using a motor-cycle as his means of travel on land. Mr. Cerney is emphatic, that the South Manchurian railway, one of tho greatest industrial undertakings in the East, blazed the trail for the effective, occupation by Japan. In the last decade, at a period when the Chinese were still in possession of this huge area, a commercial struggle was enacted on. a gigantic scale. Japanese capital was freely expended, until the result that in the course of years all vital industries were controlled by them. After their overt assumption of power, hardly any changes were effected, the. railway company once more controlling the destinies of Manchuria. To-day, no fewer than 70 great industrial undertakings are welded .into tho organic whole as represented by tho company. COMPANY ACTIVTIT ES

Private enterprise is hardly worthmentioning. Anything which the company did not already own lias recently passed into State ownership, as for instance all mines and other railways. The company’s activities have largely benefited the -country as a whole. Schools, hospitals, agricultural training colleges and industrial settlements have been setup, and vast* areas of barren land reclaimed.

Within an incredibly short time tho Japanese, by imitating Western methods, have achieved marvellous! results in the country. New cities with up-la-dnte buildings are arising, roads and railways are being constructed. The country is awakening from its age-long slumber. To-day, the.number of Japanese living in Manchuria may be estimated at 3,000.000. Everything likely to yield a return is being held by the. Japanese. Many .Europeans who formerly prospered in Manchuria, have had to quit, being no longer, able to compete, with Japanese goods. .The Chinese, too, are fated to perish. Only as a menial has Hie Chinese a chance of earning a livelihood. Tho South Manchurian Railway Company gives employment to close on 6.C(X)jOCO people.

MAGNIFICENT PLANTS In the great industrial plants of Anglian, Hanshin and Fushun no Europeans are to be found. The way in which the Japanese have laid out the industrial plants is magnificent, and Die fact that all tills came into being within the shortest time imaginable deserves particular emphasis. The only regrettable icaturo remains, that once more, poor China had to foot the bill, for everything the .Japanese are forcing Manchuria, to yield up belonged ill its entirety to the Chinese nation.

The biggest obstacle to Japanese progress in Maiiehulcno, said Mr. Cerney, lies in the depredations of the Chinese bandits, who arc- looked upon by their own countrymen as patriots. They work in bands numbering thousands, and the. Japanese troops, 80,COO of whom protect the population, are fully occupied jn dealing with them. Railway stations and other key positions are always barricaded. He himself fell into their hands, but was released when he explained to the leader, who spoke English well, that he was an innocent- globe-trotter.

Despite this obstacle, 4lie Japanese are pushing ahead with their plans as only they know how to do. Gold and coalmining, and steel are among the most important industries. Industry, Mr. Cerny explained, is confined to a single area, in which are found 15,000,000 of the total population of 80,000,000. Even Japan, can do little with the vast desert areas that comprise much of Manchukuo.