AUCKLANDER IN CHINA

Hokitika Guardian, 23 July 1928, Page 4

AUCKLANDER IN CHINA

EXCITING EXPERIENCES. AUCKLAND, July 20. I lie experience of being on nine separate occasions posted as being killed was undergone in China by Mr ,1. R. Ward, who is at present visiting Auckland alter an absence of twenty-five years, lie is an old boy of Poiisonby School and Auckland University College, and since leaving Auckland in 1003, lias become a prominent figure in the wood oil industry of China. As manager of tho Fu Chang, Hankow, Wood Oil Corporation, a, powerful branch of a Peking syndicate, Mr Ward found himself in tlio midst, of trouble, lie was the,only “foreigner” who remained in the district during the height of the disturbances, and who was not • directly protected. He remained at the refinery, five miles from Hankow, and on the hanks of the Yellow River. Some distance oil one side of him was the installation of tho Asiatic Oil Company, and on the other was tlio installation of the Standard Oil Company. Protecting tiiese were two gunboats, and in case of trouble Mr Ward was provided with a riot gun to give warning of danger. “ When the trouble came tho territory was overrun with Bolshevik agents and Chinese rebels,” stated Mr Ward. “They forced some of our Chinese officials to hand over a sum of 00,000 silver dollars, which was handy for pay purposes. At the large coal holdings of tho syndicate at Cliiaotso, in the province of Honan, tho rebels forced the cashier to sign a cheque for 50,000 dollars, hut fortunately the bank heard of it in time, and it was never cashed.” One morning Mr Ward found large

red posters on the walls of the refinery, which stated, “This man is the running dog of the .capitalist. Make trouble for Him or destroy him.” Soon after that about 150 Chinese endeared to break into the refinery, but Mr Ward was warned in time, and fired the riot gun. Marines were soon on the spot, and the rioters were dispersed. On another occasion a professional strangler was put on his tracks. Fortunately, Mr Ward suspected danger, and managed to strike the strangler before he could secure a grip. When ho left Hankow, eight months ago, the refinery was closed. Oil was manufactured from a Chinese tree, known as Alurites, and iiow there Was no raw material. He had considerable interests in the business and was obliged to relinquish them.

“ I have, no wish to return to China,” Mr Ward said. “ Things are so djsor--1 ganised that I fail to see any possi- | bility of anything being done for some ' years ahead. The trouble with China ’ to-day is that she lacks a lender, and there seems no possibility of a leader at present. The late Marshal Chang Tso-lin was the strongest man in China. He kept his word, and behaved well, but now he is gone. General Feng Yu-hsiang and Marshal'Cluing Kai-shek, the present leaders, are crafty, and not to be trusted. In ad- ( dition, they hate each other, and are i unscrupulous.” 1 While at Hankow Mr Ward met the Russian adviser to the Canton Govern- 1 menfc, David Borodin. He was a powerful, rough-looking man, all the time on the move. “ When I saw him he j seemed to have lost heart,” Mr Ward added. “ I was present the day he left Hankow and passed on his journey out of China.” Mr Ward will shortly leave for Australia. He is under engagement to an influential American corporation to make investigations regarding wood oil in Australia. He has jiist completed a tour of the United States, and thinks that in ten years America will lie able to supply all her own wood oil needs. He stated that the Alurites tree was introduced to Florida some years ago, and was flourishing to an even greater extent than in China.