CHINA.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 December 1918, Page 5

CHINA.

OUSTING GERMANS. : Received Dec. 10, 7 p.m. Dec- 21. _ The Customs, Health, Postal, and foreign Departments are dismissing all Germans, one reason being that Allied soldiers could not be to work alongside Germans.

GERMANS IN CHINA. ... A PRE-WAR PLOT. PERVERSION OF MISSION SCHOOLS.

On Friday. October 12, IMS, s remarkab.e document was made public in Shanghai. It was a memorandum drawn up in April, J 913, by the German Association of Shanghai, in collaboration with Berlin, and it embodied a scheme for the advancement of Gel-man interests in China by the perversion of missionary work in China, the establishment of museums and colleges, subsidies to the Chinese press, and by various other means.

A copy of the document has been revived by the Bishop in Kwangsi and Hunan, China, who is now spending a period of leave in Sydney "I have known for some years the existence of this memorandum/' the Bishop told a Sydney Morning Herald reporter, "but until now it has been kept in the archives of the different consulates in China. It calls to my mind a conversation which I had with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hongkong, at the opening of the university in 1911. He said that the German Emperor was at that time pressing the Pope to change the missionaries in Hunan province, and substitute German missionaries for thy Italians and Spaniards, who now work Hunan."

The scheme set forth in the memorandum was drawn up with typical German thoroughness, and the plan was in process of being put into 'operation when var broke out in 1914. It is a, verv lengthy document, and it. explains that Germany was finding difficulty in getting the desired comn;»r"iiil grip on China, owing to the powerful influence everywhere exerted by the British and Americans. This was attributed to the education system established by the British and American missions. "China is fioxied with English and American school boots," says the memorandum. "Educational specialists from America travel systematically through China and acquaint the Chinese with the wonders of modern science as seen through American eyes. The Chinese prf«s is to a large degree under the influence of our opponents. The English language is to become obligatory in Chinese Government schools above the lower elementary grade. Most striking ie the comparison of the German with the British and American schools in China.

"As if this were not enough," continues the memorandum. "England and America have gathered £500,000 more for universities in Shantung, Hankow, and Hongkong. . The English language has not yet spread so far that Germany cannot hope to catch up with it. Our diplomacy ou>rht to be able to assure the German language of that place in the Chinese Government schools that is its due, and to increase again German influence with the Chinese Government. . . The important mater of afrteSning our goal of capturing the Chinese market for German industry lies' in the question of whether or not we are determined to take up the fight against the dominance of the English language " But in this enlightening paragraph i the true German appears: "The | strength of the English and American j schools has thus far consisted more in their number than in the fpiailt.y of the ! culture given. Moreover these schools i have wasted much valuable energy by drawing their pupils without lioa from all classes. We would eonfine ourselves to those circles which are destined to play a leading part—namely, to the upper strata of the intellectual and commercial classes, and to take into our field of endeav.w only those provinces on which depend the future economic development of the country, and which produce the strongest men, both in intelligence and character, in this we can overcome, at least in part, the quantitative advantages of our opponents. . . We should formally,

as far as it accords in our aim, fall into line with the general plan, curricula, and regulations of the Chinese Government schools, so as to smooth, the way for recognition by the Chinese Government."

Toe plan, in detail, shows a proposed Initial expenditure of £500,000, and in an annual expenditure of £350,000