MR. HWANG'S APPEAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1017, 5 January 1911, Page 6

MR. HWANG'S APPEAL.

•-« FOR HIS COMPATRIOTS. DIRE SITUATION IN CHINA. Towards the latter end of last yea? cables from China reported the ssistenco of a terrible famine in Northern Kaingsu and Anliui, districts that lie in the Yaiig-tse-ICiang Valley, some hundreds of miles inland from-the Chinese coast. A Peking cable, dated December' 22, reported that tho famine was unabated, and that.an International Committee at Shanghai had issued an appeal for ,£200,000, to enable relief to be given. A few days later American missionaries appealed to their own people for a million dollars, to assist three million people starring in the districts named.' An endeavour to raiser funds in New Zealand has now been initiated by Mr. Yung-liang Hwang, Chinese Consul for this Dominion.

An Abnormal, Flood. Speaking to a Dominion reporter lastf evening Mr. Hwang explained that-the-initial cause of the famine was an abnormal flooding of the Yang-tse-Kiang Valley, which occurred last year. In July of last year Mr. Hwang received.instructions from tho Chines© ilinister in London to raise a little money from Chinese residents here for the benefit of residents in Autaui and Northern . KiangsuI his'was done without any appeal to th» general public. Now the flood las coma again in a very much worse form. The country along the Yan'g-tse-Kiang Valley is very flat. Its* inhabitants cultivate wheat and rice, depending-mainly on the former. They cultivate the ground for wheat in the tenth or eleventh month, and harvest the crop in the third month ot the following year. After this a crop of nee is sown. This is harvested in the eighth month,', which corresponds to our September. The flood which caused the nresent famine came betore the people of the districts affected, had got in their rice-crop, and, in addition, the wheat crop, which ordinarily ia the mainstay of its xiultivators, was floodfu together. Buildings, too, which the Chinese farmers -usually construct of light material, have been swept away, and the people over wide.'areas are homeless.

The Famine Really Serious; ■ Mr - Hwang assured his questioner thab the cable message, had by no means overstated the desperate plight to,which the inhabitants of tho stricken districts havs been reduced. By that day's mail he had received files of daily papers published in China, which painted the. situation in the famine districts as, acute to the last de- : gree. In the "Shanghai • Times"" .'was printed a lengthy account by an American missionary, the Dev.. E. C. -Loben--stein, of a journey ho had made through' tho famine area to satisfy himself as to. the stato. of affairs. Mr. Hwang stated' that he knew Mr. Lobenstein quite .well personally. Ho was the son of a' New York millionaire, and his-work in China was entirely self-supported. He. might be accepted with confidence as a reliable authority. In his ■ account themissionary, stated that an area of about--7000 square miles was affected .by the flood, and the people of Anhui and North-' ern Iviangsii were face to face with one of the worst famines known to history. Two' and a half million people were affected in the districts through 'which he passed, and the death roll during the coming months was bound, to.be very heavy-un-less adequate relief could lie obtained. As showing the abnormal magnitude of the ' flood, Mr. Lobenstein stated thatland not. ordinarily affected by floods lay. from one to three feet under water after i the heavy summer rains. - Crops,' of course, were drowned out. A Desperate Populace. So. desperate were the people rendered that numbers of. ; them ..banded together and marched through the country, rob-, bing anyono who had stores of food or money. ..For-Some, weeks every night had its 1 story of mnrder or robbery. Embankments were thrown, up round the villages, and people flocke'd.; intothese fortified enclosures, but. were unable .to protect.' themseh-es, until soldiers had been drafted into the yamens, or districts, to restore' order. The whole country, ; when Mr.Lobenstein viewed it,, was flooded, and for a spaoe of 30 or more leagues trans-'., formed into a vast lake, traversed by', swift currents which marked the river courses.

The people of the famine-stricken, districts are described by Lobenstein" as, under, normal circumstances, industrious cultivators, well , endowed with self-respect. They take to begging onlv as a last resort. , Many of them, after wandering far: afield in search of work, returned to their devastated • homes ' because, as they said, it was better to die at home than among strangers.

The Appeal. .' . Mr. Hwang' is prepared to receive sub« \ scriptions either from his compatriots or < from Europeans, at his consulato in Burnell Avenue. ; TTie list has been, opened , without instructions.-.from anyone- .in China. Mr., Hwang "was in part moved to take action by a suggestion from ; a ; . New Zealauder who forwarded a donation i to be expended in relief of the stricken cultivators. It is essential that aid should be rendered as speedily as', pos- i sible, for, apart from the" horrors of ! starvation, ' the inhabitants of the i famine area are faced by the rigours of a I bitter winter. . ■ ■ .