LYTTELTON... to... LHASA

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 295, 16 February 1945, Page 10

LYTTELTON... to... LHASA

T began, as most events do, in the brain of a dreamer-the New Zealander Rewi Alley, then as now "somewhere in China." The day before Christmas, 1940, he ‘sent to a brother in Wellington (G. T. Alley, "Director of the Country Library Service) what would have been a fantastic proposal from anyone else, and from almost any other place, but which from Rewi Alley in Chungking was almost routine: The Ministry of Koloshan, CHUNGKING. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry wish to buy some stud sheep from New Zealand for our great North West. China is fighting our battle for democracy against Fascism in Asia, and needs all the help she can get. Our industry needs better raw materials. The Ministry is doing its best to improve stock so as to provide these ... Before the war China was doing much experimental breeding from imported American stock. But the stock farms are now all in occupied territory, and work has to be begun anéw in Free China . .. What is needed are 100 hoggets-half and half ewes, say 50 Corriedales, 20 Merinos, 20 Romneys, to China. What is the state of shippingt is, is there any available? What would . the route from New Zealand to Rangoon, port of disembarkation? What would be cost of passage approximately? ‘Would it possible to get a New Zealand. Chinese who was used to sheep to go with them?... Can you make out an outline budget for us? me eee The Yrothier, went to Wright Gaia son & Co., and by the middle of Febtuary, 1941, was able to send to Chungking a "draft budget to cover the cost of buying 100 sheep and sending them insured as far as Rangoon." Curiously enough, he could not quote for 200 pairs of shears and oilstones which had been asked for: these were unobtainable then in New Zealand, and Chungking was re-. ferred to Sydney for that portion of its order. Wanted: A Shepherd One of the problems was the care of the sheep on the way, and there is this interesting paragraph in the letter written by G. T. Alley to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Chungking:

WELLINGTON. The cost of care of the sheep has been included in the estimate of freight, but it would be very ‘desirable to have a Chinese shepherd who knew New Zealand conditions and who would travel with the ‘sheep to Rangoon and thence into China. My brother has two adopted sons (Chinese) whose. whereabouts could perhaps be got from him. One of them has been to New Zealand. and would, I think, be very suitable for a job of this kind. Would it be possible for him to come to New Zealand, spend a month here, and return with the sheep? If this is not possible, I may be able to arrange with the Chinese Association here for a New Zealand Chinese to go. If your Government decides to buy these sheep, I can assure you that there is no better place in the world from which to get them. By April 10, 1941, C, C. Ku was able to write from Lanchow: LANCHOW, CHINA. Your brother, Mr. Rewi Alley, has sent me copies of letters in regard to purchasing sheep from New Zealand. Allow me to thank you first, for these sheep are for my enterprise, as it is now my duty to improve wool in China’s North West, which is mostly a region inhabited by Mongols and Tibetans. We have over 10,000,000 sheep here waiting for improvement, so you can readily see that what we buy is only a drop of water in comparison. But it will be a start. In case the Chinese in New Zealand

are interested in this project, it will be a real contribution to my country if they can contribute 60 purebred ewes, and send them with the stock we are going to buy. We ourselves have decided to buy 130 sheep. New Life for Many On the same day, Rewi Alley wrote again from Chungking asking if a New Zealand Chinese could be trained as a shepherd and sent with the sheep, and adding: In China it often depends on the courage and energy of one man to get a project over that will mean new life to a great many people indeed. C. C. Ku is one such... It seems impossible in view of the present situation for either Mike or Alan (adopted sons) to leave their present places. A good shepherd would be a very great help to us in training shepherds, though the going would not be easy ... . Our Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is a new one, and so has a good deal to do setting up its various departments. But no one department has so great a responsibility for improving the wool of the North West. On this one factor depends the morale and the better livelihood of many millions. Those two letters reached Wellington on May 1, and by May 3 G. T. Alley sent off replies:

All here are anxious to help. We think no time should be lost, and I am replying to you at once to give you the names you have asked for . .. In making your final budget, allow for the fact that guineas are not. pounds. A guinea is £1/1/-, 1000 guineas equals £1050. It is a silly custom here to sell some things for guineas .. . Let us know what type of purebred ewes you would like if the extra number can be sent. Perhaps we can advise about this, but we should know what type of country (amount of rainfall, feed, etc.) these sheep will go to, and what you will want to use them for. It will have to be remembered that the number of sheep that can be sent will depend on shipping space and that there is a limit to the number one man can look after. But 150 to 200 should not be impossible for one man, although feeding and cleaning the pens on board ship is a long job . . . Although you have so many sheep to improve, I should advise you to try to get the best that can be got here for a reasonable price. New Zealand. breeding is of the very highest, except for Merinos, which are, however, quite good. Corriedales are sent from here all over the world. G. T. ALLEY TO REWI ALLEY. WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND. About the shepherd, this is a hard nut to crack, though enquiries are now being made. To teach an intelligent Chinese to shear would not be hard, but this is not the season. Much could be learned on general lines in a few months at a good place by a good man, but the result would still be an incompletely trained person. It looks as though you will have to take time off your main jobs and start a shearing Co-op. Perhaps we could send films of a good blade shearer doing a few sheep. Quantity Before Quality at First By June 10, 1941, those letters had been delivered in China and brought this reply to G. T. Alley from Mr. Ku at Lanchow: LANCHOW, CHINA. Things can hardly be hastened as we wish, but a sum of £3,000 has been granted and £2,000 will be sent to you direct within a month or two. Perhaps 180 animals would be the maximum. Ewe lambs are certainly the best; the question of a shepherd will be entirely at your free decision . . . the type of country here is dry, altitude about 2,000 to 3,000 metres. Grass good in summer, but not enough good hay in winter. Winter very severe. A few places swampy. Parasites in plenty. Local sheepherders all unscientific. Our first purpose is more wool and not much attention to quality. We are thinking of buying a bunch of sheep every ee eae Ont nds sent botne stock. "(continued on next wads)

(continued from previous page) Off at Last Then on August 8, 1941, a cable came which enabled G. T. Alley to send a letter to Wright Stephenson asking that firm to proceed with its negotiations for the purchase of 100-150 sheep and "to indicate at the earliest possible moment whether there was a chance of getting them to Rangoon by October." Business is business, of course, and we are not permitted to report either the negotiations between buyer and sellers or the discussions between banks, Governments, embassies and shipping companies. There were, of course, hitches and delays, but by December 12 G. T. Alley was able to write to the manager of Wright Stephenson’s stud stock department "thanking him very much for his work in getting the sheep away," and hoping that the effort would be successful "in spite of recent happenings in the Pacific." A Japanese Complication: The effort was successful, though it was a long time before there was proof of that. In the meantime, Japan had entered the war on December 7. An urgent cable had come from Lanchow on December 24 asking that the sheep, if they could be located, should be detained. Sydney cabled on January 9, 1942, that the sheep would be unloaded at Calcutta, and on January 15 an urgent cable was sent to Rewi Alley, Chungking, asking him to "contact Rangoon" and "ensure that somebody reliable" go to Calcutta to "attend further transport." ’ Two men had, in fact, started from Kansu for Rangoon on November 22, but the letter from C. C, Ku to G. T, Alley announcing this did not reach Wellington till January 19. It contained this interesting passage: KANSU, CHINA, Allow me to report to you briefly what we have been doing here. We have half of our buildings done, which include a clinic and serum-making plant for sheep. About 4,000 native young and selected ewes are gathered ready for use in hybrid matings when the purebreds arrive. Extension works

are under way on a large scale, but.we cannot do actual pushing until we have the purebreds in hand, as Tibetans and Mongols believe nothing in empty talk. We are extremely short in scientific equipment, medicine, and books. My bunch of young men need rigid training to acquaint them with severe conditions of the grasslands, which are by no means peaceable. What friends. both in New Zealand and in China do in helping this project out will not only be long remembered but will be a real contribution to scientific sheep husbandry and to the sheepraising people of China, not to mention the economic help in resisting foreign aggression. As it happened, the sheep were not met when they arrived, the men sent from Chungking having been held up at Lashio. But 149 sheep — a Corriedale ewe died a few days after leaving New Zealand — did eventually start for Darjeeling, and the rest is mystery for months, News at Last Once or twice the little flock was reported somewhere "off the map." Once or twice rumours came through that it had perished. For nearly two years there was no authentic news of it at all, and then the other day this letter arrived from Lanchow. It was written by Rewi Alley to G. T. Alley under date November 15, 1944 — nearly four years after the "translation of the dream into words and plans": LANCHOW. You will remember the efforts you made to’ get those stud sheep out of New Zealand, to buy them in the best places, to get them by various shipping lines to the East only to find Rangoon lost. Then the trouble there was to get them to the highlands in India, and finally the trek across Tibet towards Kansu. From that time to this present, there have been two new Ministers of Lands, the man who was to receive them has been moved from Minchow elsewhere, and the sheep are given up as too difficult to move further, at a point this side of Lhasa. One report said that they had died of eating Tibetan poisoned grass. However, following that, two American men, Tolstoy and Dolan, reported that they had seen them, and that Tibetans were crossing their sheep 4

with them, and that they were exciting a great interest amongst Tibetan shepherds. So it seems that they have come to the end of their trail, and they will have their effect on the sheep of Central Tibet, but not on those of the province of Kansu, for which they were intended.

Yet Kansu is the province we must do something to help with better sheep. Those here clip about 3lb. of poor wool a year. Add one or two pounds to this fleece and better livelihood comes to a great number of people. We are trying to bring in small unit textile machinery from abroad, but we must have more wool to use here. This is the thing of paramount importance. , .. The last time the sheep were sent, the Ministry of Lands sent the money for purchase. My proposal now is that we do the same thing again, but entirely as a social thing apart trom Government aid. To do this, money for purchase and sending would have to be raised abroad. New Zealand Chinese might help, though I expect they send a reat deal already. It would do the average New Zealand farmer good, and make for an interest in this country, if he put a bet. on Kansu sheep and their betterment, at the same time as he puts his bets on the tote in Riccarton. A sporting chance. Would the sheep get through, would they be cared for, would they stand this climate, would they help 2 lot of farmers such as they themselves are, to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps?

Sure, the whole thing is a gamble. But it is a gamble that would be good for us here and for people -in New Zealand to play, for the sake of the good of their own souls. Here, we should never cease trying to abolish this poverty which, if it stays, will be the breeding ground of so many new wars, so much human distress. There you have to realise that there are other countries in the world besides New Zealand and its Commonwealth neighbour.