CHOLERA OUTBREAK

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19453, 12 October 1937, Page 4

CHOLERA OUTBREAK

PLIGHT OF HONGKONG SHANGHAI REFUGEES (Special to the Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day. Forced to spend three weeks in Hongkong during the height of an outbreak of cholera, Mr. and Mrs. E. W. Bucholz, Wellington, who returned yesterday by the Awatea from a trip to the East, consider themselves lucky to have escaped infection, as the deaths in the Chinese quarter rose as high as 180 in a day. The steamer in which Mr. and Mrs. Bucholz were making the round trip struck a reef, and was at Hongkong for three weeks undergoing repairs. Other shipping was requisitioned to transport refugees from. Shanghai, and the visitors had to wait till their ship —the Neptuna—was ready for sea. “One had to be very careful what one ate,” said Mr. Bucholz in an interview. “People were dying in the streets from cholera. The weather was unbearably hot, and many people slept in the streets. Indeed, one could not tell whether a man was dead or alive till one stepped on him.” Six days after Mr. Bucholz arrived at Hongkong, hostilities began at Shanghai. There were, rumours, he said, but many people thought they were idle Japanese threats. First Serious Trouble! The first serious trouble occurred when the Chinese several times attempted to bomb the Japanese flagship Idumo, off Shanghai. One of the Chinese planes had been hit by Japanese anti-aircraft gunfire, and the bombs carried by the machine fell into the most crowded part of Shanghai. There was great loss of life and two hotels were destroyed. While at Hongkong, Mr. Bucholz saw many thousands of British refugees arriving from Shanghai, the total arriving in three weeks being estimated at 20,000. They had left their homes at a moment’s notice, and the condition of many of the women and children was pitiable, as all their worldly possessions were the clothes they wore. Many of Ihem were killed while on their way to embark at Shanghai. At Hongkong nearly all the refugees were Britisn, the Americans being taken to Manila and the French to Saigon, in Cochin-China. Families were broken up, the men remaining in Shanghai. Just before Mr. Bucnolz left Hongkong, a British regiment was sent to Shanghai to protect tne British concession.

The British authorities at Hongkong were watching every Japanese move very carefully, and were far more prepared for unexpected hostilities than many people might think, Mr. Bucholz said. At night the sky above Hongkong was continually swept by searchlights.