LOOKING TO NEW ZEALAND.

Shannon News, 8 January 1929, Page 1

LOOKING TO NEW ZEALAND.

BRITISHERS IN CHINA.

Conditions of living for the*foreignei iu China are becoming unbearable, and" it is for this reason that Mr. F. H. Pickwick, an Englishman, who has resided at Tientsin for the past 27'years, has decided to settle in the Dominion. Accompanied by his "wife "and 'daugh-' ter, he arrived from Sydney by the Maunganui on Monday. Mr Pickwick has resigned his position as Tientsin manager of the International Savingr Society Bank ,whic-h is an institution similar to the New - Zealand Saving* Bunks, with branches throughou* China. Ho visited the Dominion ij If-25 on a deep-sea fishing expcditiov and was so impressed with the country that he returned to China determined to settle here eventually.

According to Mr. Pickwick, many '' foreigners" in China are' looking to wards New Zealand as their future home. "There is a possibility that there will be a settlement of Tientsh: '.foreigners' at Keri Keri, in the Ba\ of Islands," Mr Pickwick stated "The group settlement scheme ad voeated in the district has been broad cast in.'China 1 by a prominent r'esiden of Shanghai, who is also well knowi. in' New Zealand. Several inquirie:have been made concerning the scheme and some 20 people I know have ex pressed their intention of coming <t<i New Zealand to settle at Keri Keri.'

Giving his reasons for leaving China. Mr Pickwick said that in a short timeconditions would be such that liftwould not bo worth while there. Law and order wcjv things of the past in Chiiia, and the Chinese ■ themsclviv. »tu'i.' becoming unbearable. The system of taxation was squeezing the life ou: oi'tiiom. "It is really pitiful," Mr. Pi ckw ick ad d ml.' '' M any of my ■ frien d p arc doctors and some of them have worked in China for 30 years, prob-; ably saving thousands of lives. When the trouble came they found fheii houses, bume-d over their heads and the work of a lifetime has been washed ■completely'away.'' He considered strife in China would never cease. The Chinese irow had no Ibyalty' and no gratitude. Perhaps "foreign" '' governments had made mistakes in allowing China too much freedom, but that could npt be helped at this stage. "The pity of the position can be realised when people know that Shanghai, the Chicago of the East, is slowly but surely drifting back to the Chinese," he added. "Shanghai once a swamp, was made a city through the energy and enterprise M 'foreigners,'.and everything seems to be going. Tientsin also is irt the same danger." ..