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Hokitika Guardian, 12 July 1929, Page 4

In the course of an address at Dunedin on “Present Day China, Political and Social Conditions,” the Rev. J. McKenzie, who has spent the last five years- in China, referred to the past hislory of of the country and to a number of events in recent times which lihve been the cause of much disturbance. To-day, he said, speaking 1 broadly, the whole of China was united under the National flag, but it had not yet produced the party, the policy, or the leaders to give expression to its best hopes. A hopeful sign was that the people were beginning to call for help from foreign experts to grapple with finance, currency, and other questions Referring to the social system, he said that China was going through the process of being welded into a nation, and in the process the old family system was more on less being deliberately smashed. Instead of clan loyalty what was coming was loyalty to the nation. Industrial changes were helping to that end. These things, of course, were only in the beginning, but the road they were about to follow was clear. China would change, and nothing could stop it. All that could he done was to guide the course of the changes, and see that China became a help to the world and not a menace. One significant fact was that the status of women was being raised, and in many

quarters woman was taking her place as the qqual of man. The thought life of the country was changing. China was open to every current of thought that permeated other countries. So far the percentage of the people affected was small, but it was important to note that the,people afFected were the leaders of the nation.