CHINESE AS FIGHTING MEN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 32, 7 February 1905, Page 5

CHINESE AS FIGHTING MEN.

a EI_)UAL TO THE JAPANESE. j VLEWS OF ONE WHO KNOWS THEM. , Use Chinese have neretofore submit - I ted -auieiv to so much that the world is I inclined to regard them as a negligible ijuaiititv. wßcte resscnmnent nutans tight- • ma. but tirat opinion, according to Captain Tickell. fcrmrriy of tne Victorian j naval forces, but Naval Cotrxma nd- ! ant for Queens tan- who has had special I opportunities for forming a judgment lon the matter, is altogether wrong. For I months past thousand- of Chinese j troops have been drilled by Japanese ; otheers. and some time ago China order- ■ ed a large quantity of special machinery • I for the manufacture cf Mauser ammunition in her own territory, all of which < ■ has its signiticanf-e. Captain Tickell. in - j iiseussing the situation with a represeu- : utive of the Brisbane "Daily Mad." ■ : save some interesting sidelight- on the 1 srmaticr.. 1 "li the Cnina-naji is led by proper officers," he said, "he is quite equal to the • ; Jap. a_= a hghui-g man; he has shown ■ fjgati-ig qualities whenever he has " been led by English officers, and will Jo I so again. Even in the war against the - Japanese the Chinese showed splendid :-ourage, although their officers were no eood. Take also "h- .-apt-ore of the I'aku forts at the time of the Boser . • trouble In a fort with one gun. of ■- which the British sloop Phoenix got r the raaige. the Chinese gunners were c -wept iiir time after time, and no .> fewer than nine times that gun was r- Qe ras-nn*:U--a pret ..y j_ood indication of the ■j pluck and tenacity of the Came-*." - Ft wa.- pointed out to <■ aptaiii Tick«»U i- 1 ".rat tke successful application of the a drrhrinir qualities was very largely de- - pr-adent on gi>od leaders, and he was a asked if it ras likely that capable men f could be found in China. _ ""Yes. r_ndoa-bt« , dly." was his reply, -when it becomes the correct thins " there to follow the lighting professions. v _it present the I hinese look down noon .soldiers and sailor- with contempt: but d the day that it becomes the right thing :- you will see that the Chinese will get f- ! nientv of good leaders, and I think ">:*t s ' 'x ill be before long-. :•? "There is not the slightest doubt fiat ■r the E-_s-em Powers .tre equal *.. muse « of the West as n_rhtmg men wnen they .- <et: their minds t.. it_ and 1 ior't think r that the Jap. i- one whit beiind the >f Chinese in either .o-t-ge or _«nacity." c Turning to another aspect oi the quesr- nion. Captain Tickell re-narked: "The o j old Boxer movement is now i.bsoiutely 1- ! dead, but it was the first ipark of a ■v ; movement which is going to turn every ": European out of China. The Boxer ris•P ins was a real patriotic movement —oi i- ■ course, there were men who made ust j. | 0 j [i —but the general trend was a genu_el ine Chinese affair. It was cue of the ' first patriotic moT-meuts in China foi stj I years, and it is my opinion that th« ** I seed is -toing to grow until the peop« ■a have _-_-o_a.piished what the Boxers sei c- i out to do. That is not only my opinion >v ! but also that of one of the greatesi A Europeans who has ever been in China ie Sir Robert Hart. We have to reeollec: that hnndreds of years ago Cnina. spinet

-i over into Europe .in.; held possession ; "veil of Rusaia. for a. con-iriarable period., ; and they will doubtless sptL over i l some day." ■"Which side will tee be this i .... r I tune.' ; "Well, naruraltr they will follow the I ■ line of least resistance, and thai will I be south and not west. 1 have no doub: I that one day tier will be all aver the Pacific, and, perhaps. Australia..'" The ailegauun that the Chinese are not absorbing Western ideas. Captain Tickell =ayi, Ls f-rroneoas. He poinced out that, when the railway was laid from Woosnn°r to Sha3i»hai. it was pulled up and it was a eo-aunon thing to pull wire? down. But now J that i- different: railways and teleuraph< have been eonstnioted in many peaces, and. what i- more, they are being used by the Chinese every day. The i present war is proving a. gTeat object loss-on to the Chinese. Th.* 2 Chinese i»e -?ee in Australia, tain Tiekeli said, are small and inferior to higrher up the coast. About Foochow and Swatow they ar? niianificent o=a. and a> hardy a≤ goat-. In i winter, when Britishers are going about I with overcoat* «jn. Chinese nsherraec I are out in their boats with nothing but i a calico waistband. \ Capraia Tickell save instances of the loyalty of the Chinese to their ofScPr?. '.vheLiier British or native. wh*a-n they found they eouid cru.-ji; them, ajid how they were always reliable in their dealAs ri-T-tin:r men. hr them '&* fully e<4"aal to the Ja.paatea3"». and a> business m< n tK- superior. When the inlucated Chinese bejrun to take a p*r--..iQi:! interest in military and navai rn-a-tters. b.A'J no d'mbt thai China wo;iM develop m a way that would a-- : tonish the world.