CHINA’S GREEDY WAR LORDS.

Hokitika Guardian, 13 May 1926, Page 1

CHINA’S GREEDY WAR LORDS.

LAND RUINED BY LUST FOR WEALTH AND ROWER. (By Lieut. Col. P. T. Etherton, formerly British Consul-General in China; author of “In the Heart of Asia.”) The civil war in China, which may have far-reaching effects on Europe and the world at large, is mainly duo to the inisatiblc greed of the rival governors for wealth and power. Each is .striving towards that end, and public spirit is sacrificed to personal gain,the motive which is strongest with them all. Li Hung-Chang, the greatest statesman China ever produced once said that tho value of a post was in proportion to the money you could make out of it, and from that you can trace the underlying principles of government. At the root of it all is the fact that officials in

China arc practically unpaid, their salaries "being totally insufficient to meet their own arrangements in that respect. I well remember the schemes adopted bv a local governor who bad been ordered to accumulate a large quantity of firewood for military purposes, the rate in British currency being 4d for each 801 b. weight. He summoned his subordinates to effect the collection, with the result that the rate of wood rose to lid., and still only half the required amount had been provided. The people then pointed out the hardship that would result to the district by the commandeering of further fuel, whereupon the governor displayed a fatherly benevolence, ne bad no de.viro. Ik* said, to cause unnecessary hardship, so be would take the rest of the fuel in cash, at the then prevailing rate! ' ARMIES-OX RARER.

The effrontery of those engaged in i lie shaking of the pagoda tree is amazing. Seventy-four per cent, of the Chinese population are farmers, so the revenue from grain is a largo item. The taxpayer attends at the district headquarters known as the Taman, on specified dates. His quota of cereals is fixed according to the area and productivity of the land, but grievous disappointment awaits him if lie think that by bringing that amount lie is freed from further obligation. Ordinarily the Ynmen scales give comparatively correct weight, but when it come to an adjustment of the grain tax ii is astonishing, what an amount is required to induce them to obey the laws of gravity.

I had occasion to report upon the military forces of the comtnnndor-iii-cliief of a certain province and the. advisability of comparing the actual with Lhe paper figure of bis army, for which he was drawing a huge sum annually. An inspecting general was therefore despatched from Poking, and his approaching advent warned the military governor that his bogus army would lie exposed to tho glaring light of day. However, lie was quite undismayed, and knowing that an inspecting officer can be induced to imitate Nelson and Ms famous " blind eye ” if sufficient inducement .wore forthcoming, he despatched the members of bis staff to tho highways and byways, the villages and the plains, who gathered in boys and men from fifteen to sixty or more, so that the total might hear some resemblance to the paper figure. The supply of uniform was simple, for it was merely jacket and trousers, and with this and a rifle, a carbine, sword, banco or battleaxo, tho army was at full strength. With the inspecting general’s doaprture it shrank again to a few hundreds, although the paper figure remained the same, in order not to prejudice tho profits. BUYING SURRENDERS. Along the Russian and Central Asian frontiers the Chinese forces are supposed to be on a war footing, but. the true relation between the actual and the paper strength of a Chinese unit is so indeterminate that it would be impossible to form any estimate even wore the returns of the Peking War Board available. What, for instance, can you do when you have such a- case as once confronted me? A commandant of an important frontier outpost was stated to have sixteen regular soldiers as the garrison, and be submitted returns to that effect. But actually the total was made up of two genuine warriors, four servants, the commander, bis wife and eight children.' The bribery and corruption take various forms. One of the generals now operating before .Peking issued a scale of iiavments for surrenders to liis side, offering £'lo.ooo for a battalion complete with its commander, £4,000 for a field battery, and so on down to the simple soldier, who was rated at a £lO outer