THE FAMINE IN CHINA

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 152, 23 March 1921, Page 5

THE FAMINE IN CHINA

(To the Editor.) Sir —The facts regarding the famine in North China have several times been referred to in vour columns. The appeal for assistance has also been stressed. and has been commended by the Hon. G. J. Anderson: and tho Government has offered to transmit contributions for the relief of tho famine sufferers to China by cable. So far, however, there has been but a measre response on the part of citizens. The numerous calls upon the generosity of the public, for various relief And other funds may lx- the chief cause of the slender response to help the faminestricken people of Chinn. Yet tho need is so appalling and the call so urgent that I venture, in the name of our common humanity, tn urge a general contribution to this fund The facta are clear: The present famine is the-worst that, has afflicted North China for fifty years. Five provinces are affected: Chih-li. Shantung. Shansi. Shensi, and Honan. Over vast areas of these provinces the harvest through drought was a total failure, and it i« estimated that 25,000,000 people nre starving. Millions are trying to subsist on straw-chaff mixed with leaves, or ground up straw flavoured with bark. Tn thousands of villages there is no grain of any kind, and all the farm animals have been sold or killed for food. Various efforts have been made to relieve th.e sufferers. The Chinese Government has done n good deal. l but its relief measures have been totally inadequate to meet the situation. At various centres, such as Peking oral Tientsin, strong relief committees have been formed of foreigners, the British And American Consuls acting with th. e committees. The machinery of the. various missionary societies, working in the famine districts, is placed at the disposal of these committees, and the relief is given systematically, so as to secure tho best results. But the dreadful fact remains that in spite of all that is being done V millions must be left to perish. The grain harvest will bo reaped in June. but. in many parts of the famine districts the fields have not been sown. Belief cannot come from the fields for multitudes fill the millet and bean harvests are gathered in September. The Bev. E. W. Burt, who is acting with the committee at Tainan. the capital of Shantung, of which tho British Consul, Mr. J. T. Pratt is chairman, in a recent letter, says that ten shillings will keep one person alive till tho harvesr. I appeal to flic people of Wellington and surrounding districts to send in contributions to this fund. These may lie sent to me, and will be acknowledged in tlhe newspapers. Small amounts ns well as large trill be welcome. Sfneh contributions will ho forwarded bv 'ho Government. through the Under-Secretary, to the British Legation in Peking, by cable, and so will be immediately available. — I am. ere.. JAMES GIBB. St. John's Manse. Wellington. Afarch 21. IHIIJ.