CHINAMEN IN FRANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 February 1918, Page 6

CHINAMEN IN FRANCE.

| WORK BEHIND THE LINES. I AN LNTEKESTINC LNNUVATIUN. Behind the lighting line you mid nun of innumerable races and nationalities, employed not as combatants, but on purely labor duties- By far the most numerous ar,e the Chinese (writes Charles Watney, in Land and Water). I We were not the originator of the 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 si»ns on for a three years' contract, whereas the South African native for domestic reasons limits period of service to one year- 'Phis is a strong point in the former's favor. Another point in his favor is that lie is a hardy traveller.

It must foe an interesting pilgrimage when some, thousands of these men set out for Europe, and it must b.j a remarkable experience. In the fiivt place they have been carefully selected, ami apart from a few elderly individuals they jire- all of a fine physique. But at the same time in a long journey maladies are necessarily contracted or developed. In that case, the pilgrimage drops the sick peopb for hospital attendance on tbe and when they Ihave 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 arc nearly always trivial; an attack of mumps held a party up at one spot for quite a long time. Up to the present 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 these men. They have no break in their loup 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 lon* brown cloak over the usual Chinese dress, which apparently consists of both light summer and thick padded winter clothes worn simultaneously, the bitter 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 bv the British soldier.

The contingent of immigrants landed in France in the mid-afternoon; late 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 u wide road, evidently remodelled extensively by the military, since the spot lies well oft" 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 Chines'! camps in France. It is the great 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 hut a short time in the depot, a few days at the most, and sometimes if the incoming numbers arc very large, as they occasionally are, only just .sufficient time 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 il(":ree for pulmonary troubles. Xat • " . the one great object in a camp ' nature, and in dealing with a ra< • to certain diseases, is to

deteel lie earliest possible moment outbreak of even a single case. The medical a(tendance and supervision of the men, therefore, is notably thorough and perfect. Prior, however, to the medical examination each man has to bo 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 individual transaction that if at a later date any laborer suggests he had not been properly and adequately fitted out, his statement can at once be investigated. Occasionally one 'has heard 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 hoots. Sometimes <=ome of the boots have been stout second-hand ones, thoroughly re paired, but if one man knows that »■ other has received a pair of new hoots, his one object is to work back the <■" ones on the stores and try and persuade them to give him a new pair. In facttwo men who=e renue-t in this end bad been turned down, retired to the bap' around 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, the man is ready for work, but nominally, unless it be camp routine duty, Hie 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 him thoroughly in h«nH. so that he has '■■ worrv about nothing. T-Tis rations ••• up to the standard of th" soldier, am' one or two Tcspects even better. He ' L i; be desires, allowed to crejjare some < v

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, however, prepared by the authorities on European lines, but with Chinese cookhelpers, in the usual field kitchens. Meantime, the authorities devote themselves to sorting out the new arrivals. There are always a number of men in a Chinese camp who have knowledge of a trade. Rome are able to attend to machinery, others make good cobblers, or can successfully perform many of the littU} specialised duties which have always to be attended to in an army. They are set aside for special work as it arrives, while the rest —day laborers—arc 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 arc already nine in existence, and the number grows daily, since, by the end of ( vear, there may be, well, 100,000 Chinese laborers in France.

Even the rough typo of laborer does well. The Chinaman makes a good show in landing or loading cargo. His champions claim that, lie holds the record for rapid work at seaports, and for roadwork he can challenge comparison with any race. So, when the requisitions arrive at the depot, the men are at once sent on", always under a British officer sneaking their laiiDtiago, and, in addition, overseers of their own nationality, all of whom know some English, and many of whom a. Rood deal. Tt is by no means uncommon to find Chinese who have served, for instance, in the old Wei Tlai Wei Regiments, and who have a substantial acquaintance with military discipline. Ts the work popular? Yon cannot co to France and come to air' other conclusion. Tn the first, pTaee, the rate of pay is good. Tn addition to the 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 Ms family at home.