OFFER TO CHINA
AUSTRALIAN DIGGERS. CONSUL-GENERAL’S STATEMENT. SYDNEY, October 9. The statement by the Consul-General for China, that he has been approached by two men, claiming to represent a band of 300 Australians with war erviee records, who are eager to serve with the Chinese Nationalist Party in the civil war in China, recalls the days or hired mercenaries, when men sold their swords and services to the highest bidder, and when the cause :vas immaterial, so long as the pay './as good.
However, it would, seem that China is determined to fight her wars ler own way, because the Chinese Consul. General says he does not know whether the services of foreign soldiers would be accepted by the Chinese Nationalist Party. The men who approached him said their sympathies were with the Nationalist Party, and that there was not much to do in Australia. They thought they might as well fight for China as spend idle days in their own country. The Consul-General '.aid that the men who interveiwed him were of a very good type. Included i i their number, they claimed, were •n----gineers and cavalry men. As there were no Englishmen or Australians in the Chinese forces, he could do nothing for them.
The secretary of the Returned Soldiers’ League (Mr Stagg) said that he had no recollection of any men •p» preaching him seeking help for enlistment with a foreign army. “I cannot say,” lie went on, “whether there is in the League a militant section who, because of lack of employment in Australia, would be only eager to go warring abroad. The men referred to by the Consul-General have certainiv not seen' me. Ido not in the least know who they are, and at any rate, the League has its hands full just now in relieving the distress among . its members.”
It has been pointed out that in all countries there are men to whom the call of war is: irresistible when normal work js hard,to find. It is quite possible tljat Australia has its quota of such, and China at the present time offers plenty: of scope for the reckless and the restless.
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Hokitika Guardian, 23 October 1930, Page 7
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359OFFER TO CHINA Hokitika Guardian, 23 October 1930, Page 7
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