STRANGE EXPERIENCE

Hokitika Guardian, 1 April 1925, Page 4

STRANGE EXPERIENCE

FLYING MAN IN CHINA. CONDITIONS IN THE EAST. DUNEDIN, March 24. After an absence of ten years, Captain W. Mackenzie has returned to Dunedin. When the war broke out, Mr Mackenzie was practising dentistry in Port Chalmers. The sound of the bugle appealed to him as a South African veteran, and Gallipoli, France, and England knew him in the forces of His Majesty. In 1917 fie joined up with the 8.A.F., along with Captain Donii, another member of (he Dental Corps, and afterwards he was an instructor in night living. In May of 1918 lie joined the Handley-Page people, and carried passengers and mails as a pilot in the service between England and France, and other parts of the Continent. His company sent him to Peking to test and demonstrate commercial machines it had sold to the Chinese Government. In a. HandleyPage commercial he took up 20 passengers to a height of 10,00011. Flic other aeropliii'.es were He .)A’ s Avros. Owing to the continuous civil war in

China the prospects of the company's

ed country did not warrant Mr MacKcn/.ie’s remaining there, utul in 1921 he left the Company to cut r a mining venturi' in the Siberian tar Fasten! State, which is now extinct. But, owing to the unsettled conditions, it was found impossible to carry on. and from August, 1922. until September 1921, the New Zealander was instructor and adviser in aviation to the Manchurian Government, with his ItoadquarUrs at Mukden. Mr Mackenzie comes hack to his home town looking the picture of health, sc. mil!;. 1 !y not a whit the worse for the many varied experiences and adventures tintt- have been his. Iff tie. in la* tells in a quite modest way. He also has developed some quite d■.■finite op’.n■>),,.ot tension! matters, and about.

particularly, the national characteristics of tin* Chinese. “THE HEATHEN CHINEE." “Personally, the Chinee is a good follow,” he says, “and I like him very much. But. give him authority and

power and he 1 mean the lower strata, which are The majority—becomes something ol n devil. ’ I aptaiu Atncknovit* (alls his own observations to

his support in condemning those who advocate in the lifting extra-territor-iality rights in China, in the course of a chat with a “Star” representative. he, as an example, quoted the lost status of the Russians and Germans h 'eause of their loss ol these rights. I he former, seeking to curry favour with the Russians as one of the means towards their objective of undermining the “Imperialist ie” nations of the West, withdrew their rights the Germans had no choice in the mailer. A result of this loss is that the Manchurian youngsters and adults are not afraid to show the antipathy they feel Inwards the representatives of the two nations in their midst. With them one lakes liberties that would never he taken with British. Americans, or French. AmL justice being what it is in China, the unfortunate foreigners suffer accordingly, the rancour result-

ing from the growing aiiti-loreigii leciing finding an outlet on the people 1 whose Governments do not protect them. An example of what he meant 1 was given hv Captain Mackenzie. A 1 German he knew at Mukd.m, being tormented by a crowd of boys, taliped one over the bead with bis cane, iullieting a slight cut. On the following day. tin' hoy seeing his assailant approaching in the direction where he was playing with a number ol others, 1 set out for home at full speed. lie slipped and fell, again cutting his head. Blood-poisoning resulted. Ike hoy died. The German was given seven Years’ lor manslaughter. \\ h:ii has j c-out ribuied greatly to t he loss of Knrn- , p ans’ prestige is the presence ill | (Tina's streets of men ami women ol j old Itiissin legging for food. In order j to get enough food to keen body and , soul' together not a few women have! gone to liv»> with male Chinese. j A REMARKABLE PERSONALITY ; Manchuria is control! si h> Ho MinorGeneral Chang Ts-ilin. who was a bandit, during the I! ussn-.lapaiie War. He was useful to the -laps, and today lie is, according to Captain Mackenzie. the strongest man in China, and ! is responsible for placing (lie present ! President ill uilice. A little man ol j qtii-t v ays and charming |.-i-.nudity, j ■ no one visiting him can very well assail,t him with the marshal, who is feared and re.spret.ed throughoui the tide ' provinces of .Mnnehnrit, and much further afield. Manchuria, has a pupil- | hit ion of .something like 20.I"MI,IX!!). and | it is increasing steadily through su.cietiou from the south of China. Won-J dcrfnl crops are grown in the fertile J .soil, hut there are ho poppies. All natioimlit ies are pleased with its govern- j meal under the ex-bandit and at an I annual event attended by Captain Mae-j kenzie in October, last the British Con-| sul-Geueral, Mr Wilikiison, expressed" himself on behalf of the foreigners, as well satisfied with the way the area is administered. There are many bandits stili. and there will he always (stated i the captain) lint Manchuria is midouht- I idly much better governed than any of I the other provinces, and foreigners with I in a reasonahie distance of the railway j 1 iocs ha ve good protect ion. j MAXCI II Til A IN Til E All!. i The province now has quite a good air force. A number of French lighting machines, fully equipped, have been taken into the country, noiwit hsiamiiug an agreement by Britain, America, and France, that China is not to l.e j supplied with aeroplanes, except for j commercial u-e. Out of eighteen: French machines lauded at Mukden in December, of 1921. I I were titled villi every passitde fighting appliance. Tins. Oajit. .Mackenzie declined, was made possible been use the French Minister countersigned *1 he hills of hiding ns “ouniincrcinl machines only.” Il would, he said, he ipiite impossible to import machines like that from Britain or America openly. The force has several good French pilots, including Boulet. who attempted to fly to Australia in a small, light machine in 1919. abandoning the attempt at Java. Li addition to the French, there are six or seven liussian aviators. CHINESE LUCK. Capiain Mackenzie found the Chinese slow to learn the discipline lieces-

sary when ;i iiiiiiilkt «» I' machines ai i;|>erat inj4 [rum the same aerodrome Imt he says that lie has never seen sue wo in lerlul" I uck jut they possess. Wliil he was with them he saw eight nmol incs .smashed by Chinese pilots. Th only injury was a broken nose! Th only casualty was to an excellent ll.ni si, -m aviator, who was killed. 'i h Chinese who accompanied him was mi hurt.

Discussing the proposals of Ilyin generally. Captain Mackenzie state' that, not having been in England sine ]Ol9, he was out of personal touch wit! developments there, lie knew, how over, that they were great, and he i confident the comparatively near fa tine will see things much greater. O trade routes to India and Australia "however, he does not hold out mud hope with aero [rallies, owing to expense. That, he says, is where the airshit) comes in. A TALK OF MJSwOVKKNMK.XT. The Central Government of China is a farce, as everyone knows. It is placed in power, says Captain Mackenzie, hy the military clique that has control at the particular period hilt which does nut represent the majority of the people, who take no interest in politics. If there were a man who could weld together, the different provinces things in the East would begin to move; but there is absolutely no real patriotism among the Chinese in (lower. the object being self-ambition and self-enrichment. “if the whole of China were as well governed as the I three provinces of Manchuria, conditions would be vastly different,” stated the captain. Chang-Tso-lin’s first idea is for the welfare of the country. He is well disposed towards foreign-