CHINA AND JAPAN.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4936, 8 February 1926, Page 3

CHINA AND JAPAN.

QUICKLY CHANGING COUNTRIES.

WELLINGTON DOCTOR’S TOUR.

It is only by dribs and drabs, that the public hear much of what is taking place in that most distressful country China. Every now and then it is reported per cablegram that this or that general has had a victory or a loss, but the net result of. the faction war is, little known to the outside world, though the inference behind all the internal, turmoili is accredited to the Bolshevik emissaries from Moscow, who probably hope to gain something out of the wreckage of one of the richest countries, potentially, in the worldAmong those who returned to Wellington from an extensive tour of Europe .and the Orient last week wa§i Dr. Patrick Mackin, who not onl y visited Manila, Hong-Kong, and Japan, but spent some time in China. He was in Mukden (Manchuria)' when he heard of the death of the Right Horn W.F. Massey, and though one might' have imagined that Mr Massey would hot have been very wtell known in that part of the world, Dr. Mackin said that the papers of Mukden, Shanghai, Tientsin, and even Peking, had extended references to the late Prime Minister, the tone of which showed the high respect in which he was held.

Dr. Mackin has a great regard for the enterprise and astonishing adaptability of the Japanese. On his arrival in Japan ‘he found, that there was an acute monetary depression, with the yen (usually quoted at 2s English) down to Is 7d. On account of the shortage of money, which, had evidently been long sustained, little or nothing had been done at Yokohama to repair .the damage done by the great earthquake of a few years ago. The authorities realised that the destruction of buildings offered an opportunity for great civic betterment, such as the widening of the Bund, but the money was not available, and foreign contractors would not consider it without a security. At Tokio, however, an enormous amount of work had beemand was being done, and a fine new city was arising, Phoenix-like, out of the ashes of the old.

Dr and Mrs -Mackin travelled from Japan to Shanghai in a Japanese-built steamer, which steamed 21 knots an hour, a>nd was manned, from the captain down, by Japanese. The Japanese sphere of influence now spread over the whole of Korea (and for the first time in the history of that people they were being made to work), and also Manchuria, which was virtually leased to Japan, though'the British are "in the receipt of Customs.” In China the faction war was intermittently prevalent whilst the visitors were there. They were advised that it was dangerous to venture far up the Yang-tse-Kaiang, or to travel by rail from Shanghai to Peking, but as Peking was on their pre-arranged itinerary, they were insistent on visiting the old capital of China. They took passage by steamer to Tientsin, and travelled thence by train to Peking—a wonderful old city, different from every other city in China. That part of Peking which was formerly the home of Royalty, and was known as “The Forbidden City,” and was tapu to tourists, is now quite open to all comers. It, is a kind of treasurehoujse or museum of old China, but,a sadly looted one. Still there were plenty of wonderful, memorials of past dynasties to be seen. Whilst there Dr. Mackin journeyed on a donkey, and his wife on a palanquin, over rough roads to view the tombsi of the Kings, some forty miles' from Peking, and they also, upon another occasion, walked upon the Great Wall of China.

Whilst in Peking they learned that the Boy Emperor (now 18 or 19 years of age), who was displaced in the rebellion which made China a. republic, had escaped from Peking in the guise of an ordinary soldier ,and had made his way to Tientsin, where he had sought sanctuary at .the various Embassies. I;t was the Japanese Embassy which harboured him, and there he was still, living with his wife. Report says that this descendant of a hundred kings has no money, but his wife is believed to be very well endowed. . As far as Dr. Mackin was. able to make out, General Chang and his son seemed to ba on the fop of the wave in China, but that was now some months, ago, and things change quickly in China, since the great awakening. Dr. Mackin says that Port Arthur is now a very flourishing health resort, and really a fine city. Dairen is another city in the north that has developed wonderfully in the last few years. The journey to England from the Orient' was made via Canada, the Niagara Falls, and New York.