CHINA AND THE WAR.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1771, 3 January 1918, Page 1

CHINA AND THE WAR.

ANXIOUS TO SEND ARMY.

There recently arrived in Sydney a distinguished Australian, Dr. G. |E. Morrison, one of the five foreign advisers to the Chinese Government. A native of Geelong, Victoria, Dr. Morrison'was for 17 years Pekin correspondent of the London Times, and has held his present official position since 1912. He is on a holiday tour of six months, and intends to visit New Zealand.

Speaking of China’s part in the war, Dr. Morrison said: “China has sent about 80,000 labourers to the western front. There is no doubt whatever,” he said, “that China will send troops to the front. How many she will send depends upon the amount of shipping available and the amount of money’ available, and the matter had not been arranged when I left Pekin. At present there are probably 800,000 men under arms in China, though they are not as highly trained as Western troops. They are, however, considered to be very good war material. They are not being used against foreign countries, but for the support of provincial rulers. One of the great reforms that has to come is the bringing of the whole army under cent ml control. At present each military leader has his own following.” Referring to China’s declaration of war on August 14th, Dr. Morrison said all Germans have been dismissed from the Government service, which includes the Customs, the Post Office, and the salt industry. In the Customs Department alone US Germans were put off, and many’ of them held high positions. “An immense proportion of the people agree with the policy of the Government,” he added. “I should say that the whole of the thinking people — all those who desire (he uplifting ol China —are in accord with the action taken by the Government in its policy against Germany and Austria.

“The declaring of war at once raised China’s position among the nations, and gives her a voice at the peace conference that will come afterwards. It means the re-establish-ing of her finances. The war terminates her treaty engagements, and by treaty engagement China owes Germany £12,(H1D,000, and Austria £600,000,- in war indemnities, which wore forced upon China. She is now in a position to repudiate them. They represented Germany’s and Austria’s share in the Boxer indemnity if 1900. China also recovers possession of the foreign concession areas, which were alone subject to German control in Tientsin and Hankow,”

Referring to the domestic condition of China, Dr. Morrison said there is a difficulty in reconciling the interests of the northern Chinese with those of the south, who are led mainly by the Cantonese, but there is no dissension between them as to the republic. The dispute between all sections of the people would be as to the form which the Parliamentary Government under the republic should take. No serious man now contemplates the restoration of the monarchy. The country seems well adapted for parliamentary government, The people have in all times been accustomed to rule over a large section of their affairs by guilds or councils. They are fond of discussion. They are very fond of settlement by compromise and by arbitration. Even in the present conflict between the southern party and the northern parly it was seriously proposed to invite the President of the United States to arbitrate."

“The country is prosperous,” he continued. “The forces of progress are much greater than the forces of reaction, and if the internal, disputes about Parliamentary Government were settled, the progress would he astonishing. At present China has to meet obligations entered Jnto when the dollar was worth less than 2s, and she can pay them with the dollar at its present price of more than 3s. Thus China is now in a very favourable financial position, and as she l>as obtained from the Powers the postponement of the payment of the Boxer indemnity for a period of five years, and as there is now being arranged an increase in the Customs duties to an effective 5 per cent, China is in a better financial position than she has been in l or the past 30 years.”