1919-12-16 — Page 8

8

THE DIARY OF A HONGKONG LADY.

EXPERIENCES IN DEVASTATED

BELGIUM.

We have been heating a great deal about the need to assist the Belgian and French people to reconstruct their villages and homes..

Hongkong has been divided into iwo camps, those who sympathize with our unfortunate allies and who are doing all they can to support the local fund and those who consider that the sterics of ingratitude which have been freely circulated point to the moral that we should mind our own business.

Into the midst of all this controversy comes a lady fresh from the scenes of devasution and full pity and horror at the thought of all those hotheless people. She was so pleased to hear of the efforts being made to assist them, by a local committee that she has given us her diary to publish In the hope of adding yet one more appeal to the feelings and generosity of the people of Hongkong.

THE CHINA MAIL.

In a few cases people

Na trees of

Nieuport was to

one found it hard to picture that arid waste as once having been a beautiful

CORRESPONDENCE.

A SKIPPER'S ARGUMENT,

Dear Sir,Was there art ordinance

rible stretch of land that had been tween the two breakwaters at Ostende, of the houses along the front were flooded, with here and there a Ger we noticed a big vessel lying on her intact, and many, just a heap of rub man pill box for the look-out men, as side in the mud. This was the famous ble. There had been a children's hos-solidly built as usual. old "Vindictive," which had been piral there on the front, and nothing course and nothing but desolation on 1To the Editor of the" China Matt.”||| damaged at Zeebrugge and had been remained of it"save the iron gates either side of us. brought by her crew and qunk at the and paling. mouth of the entrance to Ostende had started re-building their houses, our right, some few miles away and harbour, while the Germans were there in possession. She has now been hauted to the left hand of the entrance and is being, hammered to pieces. She looked like a splendid: otc fallen war rier, and one naturally felt proud of the wonderful deeds. she had accom- plished before she lay there in the mud, with her task Enished.

men.

men

and

passed prohibiting the working of ships were in the waters of the Colony pasture land,

cargo on board of ships while such

At the further side of this flooded of Hongkong?

Granted there is such an ordinance, area was the little town of Pervyse.

and a few were finished and looked so strange standing there with ruined houses on either side of them. In most of them the ground floor were heaped up with sandbags under which thea which as usual there is nothing left why is it not put in force? It surely but a heap of ruins. We were told that was not passed as a means of revenue German soldiers lived in the cellars.

the place on which we were standing to the Colony. We can quite under- The damage done here was of course also done by our naval guns and air had been the railway station, but there stand that were Hongkong a tidal port

At the end of the parade was

was nothing to indicate this. save and a vessel was going to get neaped few bricks and broken up railway if she was not allowed to work on a Un disembarking we were met by the mere outside shell of what was Miss Dormer Maunder, and Lieut. once the gigantic "Palace Hotel.

cn our right hand was a pathetic clus-where it was certain she would be Monelor, a Belgian officer, head of the which the Germans made into officeck. along which we walked, and Sunday or were she bound to a port ter of little nameless graves of those neaped if she were not allowed so to Bureau of Reconstruction-Ostende cers Headquarters, and into this a

who had given their lives defending work it would be hard on the ship- Area-who was going to take us round young Brittish airman aged 19 drop- the devastated country. Miss Dormer ped-in August or September 1915 their homes. In a dugout here two owner or charterer as the case might Maunder has been in Belgium during bombs, which blew the whole place noble ladies of Pervyse lived and be that he should lose the earning

She was in to pieces. killing 400

tended the wick and wounded, and power of his ship for five or six days the whole of the war.

one of the battery commanders was thereby, but Hongkong is not a tidal Ostende looking after the wounded, women and entirely destroying the

monk. There was no one now except port in the sense implied and even who were all laid on the floor of the whole centre of the hotel..

There had been a fine colonnade the dead, who lying there seemed to were the ship loading for a dal port Casino, awaiting a ship to take them! of. Our navy could not then spare any along the front, which was also mostly keep watch upon the remnants of and a loss of five or six days likely ships, and Miss Maunder told us, she destroyed! Here I picked-voa piece their homes. All this area was occu-to occur I would say let the punish- or in other had nearly given up hope that they of crystal from a German searchlight,pied by the Germans in 1914, as far ment meet the crime. would be rescued in time, and quite and a German revolver cartridge, and down as Dixmude on the Yser, which words ler a sam se paid commensur was so valiantly held by the Belgians, ate with the amount saved in order thought they would have to be taken as we were wandering about I noticed!

and the Germans never gaining to obtain a Sunday working permit It is always well to remember that prisoners, when the Duke of West-out frem among the ruins came a it does not co to be too critical of minster and some others, sent their very thin and dilapidated German the supplian: fes help or to ask whe-yachts across and brought them away. dachshund. In all probability it had possession of that bridge head, al- which should be at no time less than gle for it. Here we saw the Germanor in the case of a charteres an ther the people are wenny of one's just as the Germans were entering the been left behind when the Germans though they had many a fierce strug two days earning power of the ship dugouts of the right bank of the river amount not less than two days of his town. Miss Maunder returned to

On leaving Middlekerke we drove and the Belgian on the left, terribly hire money. How many of us could stand the Dunkerke, where she remained nur-

The money so obtained could be limelight of keen inquiry upon cursing and doing all she could to help inland through land which had been close quarters, and although the canal! personal characters and it our claim the Belgians to keep their spirits up, occupied by the Huns since 1914. had widened somewhat into what they put to some useful purpose in the way There one saw in all directions cement here called a river, it was by no, of a charitable institution for seamen to mercy in our hour of need depends til the war was over.

We walked along or become the nucleus of a benevolent ed upon the perfection of our lives.

dugouts and pill boxes dotted over the means wide. what a poor chance of salvation we

country, in anticipation of a possible narrow winding track on the right fund whereby seamen might obtain At the sides of the roads tank, above German dugouts and some benefit from their own enforced should have.

retreat.

screens defence works; the ground all round labour." were camouflaged wooden

Even with all this no permit should with a grayish green thick kind of us. if we got of the track, being too paper that looked as though it were bad to walk over, as it was one mass be given without a sufficient and satis- some several feet factory reason due care being taken made from reeds, and these acted so shell craters. screens to the white roads along which deep, many of them containing water: to ensure that the cause assigned be they could take their man unperceived and seeing all this. makes one realise such as a permit should be granted! by the enemy.

what years it will be before it can be for in order to avert what otherwise levelled out agai: also with so much might be a serious loss and one which churning up the sub-soil has come to the ordinance was not meant to cover. the top. in which nothing but the rank i feel certain this ordinance was grass, that is growing there now, passed to amelicrate the already hard Also here again, one; lot of a seaman and only requires to We could exist

efforts.

We noticed that the large dock and station where we landed had been mostly demolished except ter a few pieces of wall and the iron work. That was done of course by our guns, but we did remarkably little damage to Ostende itself, most of the houses being absolutely intact. I believe there were a few in the background that had been wrecked.,

retreated.

When the war ceased and people had time to look around and take stock of all the danger and desclation wrought in France and Belgium, the realization of what it all means came as a righteous cal to some of the people working there, and with this realization came also. the knowledge

After the Customhouse official had! that the cessation of hostilities had brought about an almost immediate been interviewed by Lieut. Monetor, called reaction in people's practical sym-! we were allowed to pass cut, and found! There was pathy.

waiting for us outside, two large mili-except

In putting away the feeling of night

mare horror, that had walked side by

side with humanity during the war

The first village we came to, and Slype.

3 halt

[.. was. very little of it left, 筵 rained

chorch

and

cary motor waggons, into which we Calvary and very little else." climbed at the back by a ladder. The found the village baker just starting could not help compering the strength be put in force in the spirit and letter one we got into had just wooden seas to re-build his house which had been of the German defences to those of of the law and when got used to work. Miss the Belgians, and the marvel is that would go on just as satisfactory as demolished, and years, people with a sigh of relief with back unpadded, but there were complete

as they did, It must have been ajed. Why look at our Home Ports, no turned to their old thoughtless exist-several thicknesses of blanket fasten- Maunder said, when she came that the latter managed to hold that line ir does at present with Sunday includ

The other van was way a fortnight ego, he was digging

work is done there on Sunday, Why ence and said "Thank God we can be ed to the seats.

here? Are we Christians only when normal again, and many added the un- more luxurious, the seats being padded in the rubble to find his foundations. gigantic struggle.

So that was This he had done and had now with

we are in Britain and become Pagans conscious rider, and leave off giving." and leather covered!

the aid of his Fiemish wife, built two-

immediately we leave it? All organizers of relief work felt given the name of "The Roils. Royce.

He told and are feeling the effect of this re- However, we preferred the less com- feet of wall and had also nearly clear- action, and the public have to be con-fortable but more empty conveyanceed his little patch of garden. tinually reminded that the salvage of of the two, and kept to the same ones that when the Germans invaded homanity and property can only now

begin in earnest."

all the time, there being only eight of the country in 1814, the inhabitants only had six hours in which to clear us, and it could carry twenty inside.

12

(To be continued.)

THE BEST COUGH MEDICINE.

HAMBERLAIN'S Chozh: Fem de is the largest selling couch metiene Texte what a cough medicine is sure out, and apparently, many of them in the world today because it does returned again and lived among the p to do. It stops coughs and colds ruins, as the baker said that his family dily and off-tually. For sale by had Temained there during the occu-ah-miss and Storekeepers. pation, while, he fought with the French. He said that he hoped in about

It is truly pitiful that such salvage We drove over the shaky cobble The Hotel Phare one of should have to be cided by voluntary stones to effort and tainted by charity instead the best hotels on the front, had tea, of being entirely in the hands of and got into the vans again and drove efficiently run state departments, but some three four miles out to the the suffering people cannot wait for east of the town, noticing as we went

to reform the what strong natural defences, in the a month's time to be baking bread governments of the world, nor can shape of sand dunes, the coast had: gain, but that it required beaucoup we break our hearts over problema- and this of course had been augment de courage" to begin from the begin tical progress, while there are cryinged by the Germans, with concrete and ring as he was doing now.. Concian- wants around us and tasks waiting barbed wire; the whole of the coast fing our way through the same kind to be done.

being wonderfully and strongly forti-f

relief white we try

waited.

dered homeless.

war..

country. we saw not a tree

not A yard of cul- This briefly was the feeling of those Red." Out here amid the sand dunes alive and men and women who were laced with is the famous Deutschland Battery"tivated land; nothing but broken up soil and rank, grass. The the task of helping the Belgian re-which consists of four gigantic guns, fugees to reconstruct their homes and 15 inches in diameter and a range of dreariness of the scene was terrible. keep them fed and clothed while they 36 miles. They were originally intend-in spite of the lovely bright weather. ed to shell Dover if the Germans had After passing the ruined village of St. Then some one conceived the idea gained possession of the Channel Pierre Capelle we came to Schoor of propaganda tours over the battle-Ports. The length of these guns is bakke on the Tser canal where we fields and certain areas.of the deva75ft., and before the Huns left, they stopped and crossed the canal by a stated regions.

demolished the breeches of them all. small wooden bridge, and saw the These tours run by a handful of They are set in a dug out platform ruins of several others that had been. ladies and assisted by the Belgian lined with cement 30 yards in dia- blown up during the course of the On the further side of the canal Government, were started so that meter and tock 17 months to set up

From we walked along duck boards which people in England might realise the in their respective positions. meaning of war at its grimmest and concrete buildings in the background the Germans constructed to walk on see for themselves the terrors and the ammunition was brought in small when the sea was let in upon them. horrors of a country laid waste by tracks worked by electricity right up They consist of two horizontal pieces! shell fire and sword and a people ren- to the guns, and the guns themselves of wood with flat bars between, along It was felt that the revolved on rails in this circle of which, it was possible to walk in the tourist would return to their homes cement, and so had an enormous mud and slush. From here, standing convinced of the crying need to aid range. And needless to say the guns on top of one of the dugouts, we could with sympathy and practical help those and ammunition sheds were cantou- see all the land that had been flooded who had suffered so terribly at the flaged sa well that their whereabouts when the sluice gates were opened hands of our common enemy. Read- were unknown to either British air- at Nietiport and the sea came in cover- ing this diary may help to stir those men or the Intelligence Departmenting the whole of that low-lying tract who have lived comfortably out here! Since the Germans did not gain of land in two of three days, catching and never come into actual contact possession of the coast ports, these and destroying many German guns, with the realities of war and its con- guns consequently were entirely for men and horses, and thus saving the This, we were told sequences, and should strengthen the coast defence. They were manufac-Channel ports.

And so was in October 1914, and this tract -appeal for aid for women and child- tured by Krupp in 1916. ren in the Devastated Regions of much for the Deutschland Battery of land remained "No Man's Land " France which is making a final effort which was going to bring us all to throughout the war, only having Ger- during the next few days,

our knees! Well, it is little wonder man observation posts here and there... It is sad to that the Huns thought so.. seeing the reached by duckhoards.

see this tract of land, once the richest gigantic strength of the guns.

Saturday, Left the hotel at 7.30 pasture land in Belgium, now white and drove along the front to "Middle with salt, cracked and useless, and kerke to the west of Ostende. In they tell us that for at least seven years they will not be able to louch doing so we noticed at, intervals al

it. Schoorbakke itself consisted of 1.30) and arrived at 3.45 after a along the parade were new concrett delightful crossing, "on the Belgium squares in the pavement; these had nothing but a few heaps of bricks, Mail, which makes straight for Calais, been the entrances to the German and a wooden shanty where we had some nice hot coffee poured from a and then turns N. E. and follows the dugouts which stretched all along the coast line, keeping quite near to the coast. There had also been machine ligantic coffee pot into little china land, so that we could plainly see the gun emplacements and searchlights bowls, evidently the usual thing to devastation wrought by gun fire at intervals. Middiekerke had no drink from in Belgium as well as in Dunkerke and Nieuport. As we fared as well as Ostende, as it was China! After we had refreshed our- came into the narrow entrance be in a terribly ruined condition. None selves, we drove on through that tar

Hotel Royal Phare, Ostende. Friday. Aug. 15, 1919.. We lef: Charing Cross by the 8.45 Dover train (the Ostende boat leaving

Here is an opportunity for our new Governor to prove his appreciation of what the officers, engineers and men of our Mercantile Marine have done

the submarine menace during the late for the world at large when combating war, and I feel certain that should his Excellency move in the matter there will not be one officer or man trading to or in the Colony but will acclaim in no uncertain voice A Daniel-A "WALLA WALLATMTM Launches at Second Daniel come to Judgment.-

Blake Pier. Night and day serYours truly,

ANCIENT MARINER.

vice.

ANOTHER TRIUMPH

FOR

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CAPT. ROSS SMITH

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MAGNIFICENT FLIGHT

entirely on

the only PERFECT

AVIATION SPIRIT.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1919,

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