CHINAMEN IN FRANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 February 1918, Page 4

CHINAMEN IN FRANCE.

WOBK BEHIND THE LINES. AN LNTEIIESTLNIi INNOVATION. Behind the lighting line you liud men of innumerable races and nationalities, employed not as combatants, but on purely labor duties. By far the most numerous are the Chinese (writes Charles VVatney, in Land and Water). We were not the originator of tiie idea of employing Chinese labor in France. The French were the pioneers- Encouraged by their experience in utilising the services of men from their own colonies, they proceeded to enrol them with the acquiescence of the Chinese Government in Northern China, and it is also from the north that we ourselves draft them to France. The Chinaman does not mind long journeys and long periods of voluntary expatriation. He signs on for a three years' contract, whereas the South African native for domestic reasons limits his period of service to one year. This is a strong point in the former's favor. Another point in his fayor is that he is a hardy traveller. > It must 'be ail interesting pilgrimage when some thousands of these men set out for Europe, and it must be a remarkable experience. In the fhvt place they have been carefully selected, and apart from a few elderly individuals they lire all of a fine physique. But at the same time in a lorn; journey maladies are necessarily contracted or developed. In that case, the pilgrimage drops the sick peopb for hospital attendance on the w.-y, and when they (have recovered they are attached to the next party passing through. Thus, some parties arrive less in strength than when they started, while others arrive considerably larger. These maladies are nearly always trivial; an attack of mumps held a party up at one spot for quite a long time Up to the piesent no mishap whatever has befallen any, and the mortality is trivial. One of these Chinese laborers who recently. died in a British town was accorded a military funeral.

One must pay a tribute to the buoyancy and the imperturbability of those men. They have no break in their long journey, yet when I saw them —as I did the other day to the extent of some two or three thousand—they were all cheerful and well provided with tom-toms and other instruments of music. Most European critics wonder whether their clothing is sufficiently thick to protect them against cold; it seems to be standardised, for every man wore a long brown cloak over the usual Chinese dress, which apparently consists of both light summer and thick padded winter clothes worn simultaneously, the latter next to the skin. Their shoes seem the least suitable, but this makes no difference, for every man is supplied with a pair of boots just the same as those worn by the British soldier. The contingent of immigrants landed in France in the mid-afternoon; lute the same evening a train dropped them at a great Chinese depot miles and miles behind the fighting front, and they passed the first night in bell tents. The next morning showed them a type of camp with which many having labored in South Africa, are familiar. On one side of a wide road, evidently remodelled extensively by the military, since the spot lies well off the beaten track, has been built a large mixed camp, one-third of tents and two-thirds of permanent structures of the normal military type which the army carpenter is running up all over Northern France.

This camp possesses features which are not found in the other Chinos* carnps in France. It is the groat clearing deport for all arrivals, and its administration is testimony to the thoroughness, care, and patience with which these immigrants are looked after- They spend but a short time in the depot, a few days at the most, and sometimes if the incoming numbers are very largo, as they occasionally are, only just suffieient'timo for record and refitting purposes. In the morning after their arrival each man is individually submitted to a very minute medical examination, more especially for trachoma, and to a lessor di-rree for pulmonary troubles. Nat ■ "' •. the one great object in a camp nature, and in dealing with a ra( • to certain diseases, is to 'deteci he earliest possible moment tlie nut break of even a single ease. The medical attendance anil supervision of the men, therefore, is notably thorough and perfect. Prior, however, to the medical examination each man has to be identified. The men have names, which are known to the authorities, but in view of their complexity and difficulty of pronunciation, each is known, and for all practical purposes identified, by a number.

LOVE OF NEW BOOTS. When the men leave the doctor—and the vast majority arrive in excellent health—they are taken in hand by the Quartermaster of the Stores. It is his job to fit them out with boots, vests and blankets, and his department keeps such a minute record of each individtial'transaction that if at a later date any labor ■ er suggests he had not been properly and adequately fitted out, his statement can at once be investigated.' Occasionally one 'has beard reports that some of the men suffer from lack of boots. As a matter of fact, they may suffer in this way, but it is their own fault. The average Chinaman is by no means an innocent and unsophisticated child of nature. He has been known to sell his boots for the sake of the few dollars he may get on them, and he will then return and blandly ask for another pair, He has, too, a weakness for new boots. Sometimes some of the boots have been stout secoi-.d-band ones, thoroughly re paired, but if one man knows that a> other lias received a pair of new hoots, his one object is to work back the c' ones on the stores and try and persuade them to give him a new pair. Tn fact, two men whose romi'"* to fbis ond had been turned down, retired to the bae' ground to take counsel and presently one, returned with two left-foot foots, remarking that a mistake had evidently been made in the issue. But the fraud failed.

Having obtained his outfit, (he man is readv for work, but nominally, unless it be camp routine duty, Ihe is not called upon to do anything for two or three days, until, so to speak, he has "found his feet." He therefore devotes himself to getting his outfit in order, repairing own clothes, etc., etc- He soon finds that the Government has taken hiin thoroughly in hnnH. so that he has (' worrv about nothing His rations ••• up to the standard of th" soldier, ami one or two resneets even better. He ,if he desires, allowed to. prepare some <

his own food in his own way, this being especially the case in regard to the bread or bread cakes which every Oriental likes. The bulk of the meals are, I however, prepared by the authorities on I European lines, but with Chinese cookhelpers, in the usual field kitchens. Meantime, the authorities devote themselves to sorting nut the new arrivals. There are always a number of men in a Chinese camp who have knowledge of a trade Some are able to attend to machinery, others make good cobblers, or can successfully perform many of the little specialised duties which have always to be attended to in an army. Tiliey* are set aside for i special work as it arrives, while the rest —day laborers—are grouped in companies in anticipation of requisitions which may come down at any moment from | any part, of the British line. For this . purpose local camps have to be built for these Chinese'laborers very much on the lines of the depot camp. 'There are ' already nine in extstei.po. end the number grows daily, since, by the end of t vear, there may be, well, 100,000 Chinese laborers in France. | k Even the rough type of laborer does well. The Chinaman makes a good show | in landing or loading cargo. His eham- i jpions claim that he holds the record for | rapid work at seaports, and for road- , work he can challenge comparison with | any race. So, when the requisitions arrive at the depot, the men are at once sent nff, always under a British officer sneaking their language, and. in addition, overseers of their own nationality, all of whom know some English, and many of whom a. good deal. It is by, no means uncommon to find Chinese who have served, for instance, in the old VA'ei jTlai Wei "Regiments, and who have a substantial acquaintance with military disciplineTs the work popular? Ynu cannot go to France and come to an v other conclusion. Tn the first pTace, the rate of pay is good. Tn addition to th*> free clothes, free food, and free accommodation, each man receives a franc a day, while an allowance of ten Mexican dollars a month is paid to his familv at home, j