RUSSIAN REFUGEES IN SHANGHAI.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11646, 25 August 1905, Page 4

RUSSIAN REFUGEES IN SHANGHAI.

Recest reports from North China and Manchuria tell very vividly of the sufferino- that has been experienced by the Russian refugees that have been driven from their homes by the war, writes a Shanghai cm-respondent of the Philadelphia In-

quirer. The effects of the war have deprived them of their homes and the necessities of life, and have left* them in a destitute condition, and for several months they have been living entirely on the charity of the Bed Cross Society and aid proffered by private individuals. While in this deplorable condition, -without adequate shelters, they have been crowded into unhealthy, miserable refuges,' and their suffering from the inclemency of the weather must have been intense.. Now * new trouble has beset itself, as typhus and other fatal fevers are raging in -'the refugees' camps in Mukden, and it is rumoured that the death rate is remarkably high. The refugees that flocked to Shanghai after the fall of Port Arthur liave* : by no means had an easy time of it. "Jt-is estimated that about 15,000 refugees have arrived in Shanghai since ?the capitulation. This includes . officers that have been paroled with their families and their mili-

tary attendants., also .a' great many noncombatants. The latter are more to be pitied, as for the most part they were in a destitute condition. * The officer* were in far better condition both financially and physically,- and showed that thfey » thought first of their own welfare. • The less lucky ~6f the refugees were.' begrimed, and their faces showed the terrible strain that they had undergone." They arrived in Shanghai in confusion, ship load after ship load arrived and were landed without precedence and expected to look .-, after themselves. The officers put up -at. the hotels and boardinghouses, or •■ rented available houses, while the other people ' found'shelter in mat sheds erected fox the purpose, though some took up their abode in the French camp that held the French soldiers during the Boxer trouble' in f 1900. " It has been a difficult problem to feed so many, and tne increased demand has made the market prices high. The- Russian authorities' have chartered a large number of vessels, and are doing their utmost to send the refugees to their native land, which; when accomplished, will greatly ploase- the Shanghai residents, who are anything but pro-Russian, and the . dia-. graceful behaviour of many of .the refugees and the lack of proper discipline on the part of the Russian authorities has not helped the matter any.. While it would seem natural for people hu this .condition to be pitied, it is not so in this. case;, for ob. a whole the refugees that Have arrived in Shanghai are not a credit to any civilised nation. Their drunken rowdyism and arrogant, repulsive manners have set the' Shanghai public against' them. And it is little wonder that .the Chinese scoVn^ihd, dub them the "Western Barbarbians."