CURRENT TOPICS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6090, 29 January 1898, Page 5

CURRENT TOPICS.

. *, In a city tram-car, the A Chinese other day, the conversation view of turned upon the threatenthb war ing aspect of affairs in prospects. China and the probabilities attaching to the situation. An itinerant Chinese merchant was drawn into the discussion, and though a good deal that was said was uttered in a bantering spirit, there was much elicited that was of interest as elucidating the attitude and opinions of the average native of the Celestial Empire. This particular Chinaman, it should be said, made no pretensions to belong to any superior caste, but his intelligence was distinctly above that of the Chinese one usually meets here. He had a fair command of the English language, and he evidently was a close student of past and contemporary history, from the Chinese standpoint. When it was remarked that China stood in danger of being annihilated in the conflict that seemed imminent, he calmly replied that there was no fear of that. His country might 'not have a great navy ; it made no pretensions to that ; but its army would give a good account of itself. He was reminded that the superior arms of Eitropean soldiers would enable them to decimate the Chinese. " Oh, no," he said, "you never catch my countrymen. If you never catch you never kill. You kill one hundred, up come two hundred more; you kill two hundred, up come thousand; you kill thousand, up come thousands more; you never catch them all." This son of the Celestial Empire evidently had a very correct estimate of the power of numbers, and rightly calculated upon the staying power of a nation numbering some three hundred millions. He recognised a danger ahead if the Powers got Chinamen to kill Chinamen, but none whatever though all the European nations combined against i his country, "If Russian kill a Chinaman, we kill a Eussian ; all the same with English, or German, or French. They never able to kill all my countrymen." The self-satisfaction, conceit, and arrogance of Celestials towards "outer barbarians" were finely exemplified in these sentences. The Christchurch Chinaman was of opinion that there would be no war, and no partition of his country. All that was wrong in China at present was that the people were dissatisfied with the reigning Emperor and his Administration. " They just want a change of Government, all the same as New Zealand." And his merriment over this sally was joined in by the other occupants of the car. Having satisfied himself, turning the if not his auditors, that his tables, country was safe, the intelligent Mongolian proceeded to turn the table 3by predicting a great incursion of Chinese into New Zealand. It was jocularly suggested that a million of his countrymen, paying ,£IOO each, as poll tax, would be a good thing for the Treasury. "No fear; they pay no polltax ; they kill you all. My word ! You be running away then, up into the country ; Chinamen after you, killing you." This being scouted as impossible and the difficulties of I transport and of evading the English ; Navy being pointed out, the champion of China laughed away the objections. " Why," he said, "we've been here before and we'll come again." When were they here before ? " Oh, just fifteen years ago." Fifteen hundred years ago, suggested one gentleman, remembering' that Chinese history goes back to very ancient times. "No; fifteen years," the Mongol firmly repeated. " Chinamen cam© here to take New Zealand, and would have taken it, too; but they got a lot of money to go back and leave it alone !" He indulged in a huge chuckle as he recalled this historical tit-bit, and repeated that the Chinese would come again some day. " But," he benevolently added, " I don't want them to come; I don't want war; for all you people would be killed." No amount of ridicule or reasoning could shake his conviction that the Chinese had invaded New Zealand in 1883, and had only refrained from annexing the country and exterminating the people because they were paid a huge ransom. It would be interesting to know what foundation, if any, exists for this extraordinary piece of' fiction. Perhaps an English syndicate lent the Chinese Government a few millions at the time indicated. As a matter of everyday knowledge, Chinese " history " is about as picturesque and hardly so reliable as the history of " Jack, the Giant Killer." It is notorious that the teeming millions of China believe that their country gave Japan a severe beating in the Corean War, instead of suffering humiliating defeat; and that even the educated and well-informed minority maintain that the Chinese only retired from a feeling of magnanimity and a desire to avoid crushing the " little brown men." But while we can all smile at the absurdity of the story that the Chinese have already practically conquered New Zealand, it would be well not to ignore the fact that the Chinese apparently cherish ideas of invasion. A " bursting up " policy in China might send to our shores hordes of Mongolians—perhaps not as formal invaders, but as pirates and robbers— who might give us a good deal of trouble. New. Zealanders have every reason to watch with grave concern the development of events now proceeding in China.