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From Kwainer there is a Japanese telegraph line to Lungchingtsun, which connects the telegraph systems of China and Korea. The line, I understand, has been in existence for some years, though the Chinese Government has not officia|| recognised Japan's right to maintain it. From Lungchingtsun there is also tek phonic communication with Yenchi, both of these places having telephone systems recently installed, but there is no telegraphic communication, messages being sent from Lungchingtsun by courier to Yenchi to be despatched by the telegraphic office there. From Yenchi there is telegraphic communication with Kirin, Ninguta and Hunchun. The Chinese postal administration appears to operate well in the distrijat letters from Mukden to Lungchingtsun taking about a week in transit, and letters to Hunchun from Yenchi about a day. Mails are sent by couriers, who travel day and night.
From statements made to me by Mr. P. B. Joly, the assistant in charge of the Chinese maritime customs at Lungchingtsun, by the missionaries resident at that place and by the Chinese officials upon whom I called in the course of my tour, I gather that conditions in the district are at present quieter than they have been for | some time past. The withdrawal of the Japanese military forces was completed on the 8th May, and General Isobayashi left Lungchingtsun with his staff on that day. During their occupation of the district the military erected a wireless station at Lungchingtsun, by means of which they communicated with Kwainei, but this was dismantled on the 18th May, the day before my arrival, while the mast was taken down on the 20th. I saw no signs of Japanese (with the exception of a few police) anywhere during my tour of the district, except. of course, in the open marts, where there are Japanese residents, and there can, I think, be no doubt that the evacuation has been complete. There are, according to the Taoyin of the district, about 5,000 Chinese troops in the district, about half of whom have during the last few months been sent from Kirin to replace some of the men whose behaviour at the time of the Hunchun raids was so unsatisfactory. The headquarters of the army is at Venchi. There are also a fair number of Chinese police and gendarmerie scattered through- out the district.
The principal points in regard to which I was instructed to report were— 1. Whether in view of the present disordered state of the country there is any
danger to the lives and property of British missionaries in the distri and whether it is necessary that any steps should be taken for their protection.
2. Whether native Christians are suspected as such, and whether there is on the
part of the Japanese authorities any interference in missionary work. 3. Whether there are any signs that the Japanese are preparing to encroach
on the district.
At
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Christian communities and is in no sense the property of the Canadian Presbyterian Mission. I fancy that there has been some misapprehension on this point, as I myself was certainly under the impression that the mission had property in other places. and while at Lungchingtsun, Mr. Barker showed me a copy of a letter he had written to the editor of the "Japan Chronicle "correcting a statement which had appeared in its columns from which one would imagine that they had property in many parts of the district. This letter, however, he seemed to think," had never reached its destination, as it was not published in the "Chronicle."
The missionaries at Lungchingtsun make periodical tours of the district, though I understand that they have never been molested in any way, even the ladies travel- ing unattended to some of the most distant parts of the country which the mission covers. Both Dr. Martin and Mr. Barker, however, told me that recently they had on several occasions when travelling into Korea been subjected to search by the Japanese police. In these circumstances, however, it does not seem necessary that any special measures should be taken for their protection.
2. I put this question to both the Rev. D. A. MacDonald, of Kwainei, and to Mr. Barker, of Lurigchingtsun, Mr. MacDonald has had many years of experience in Korea, and has also quite recently made a tour of the Chientao district, having been as far north as Hamatang, so that he is in a position to judge of the present position of affairs in this respect. Mr. Barker has also many years of experience, and both gentlemen answered without hesitation in the affirmative so far as the first part of the question is concerned. In Mr. MacDonald's view, however, the Japanese are not actuated by anti-Christian sentiments so much as by the fact that in many instances native Christians are in favour of and at times the prime movers in the independence movement. It seems to me, though that this is only natural, as the native converts, coming as they do into more or less close contact with foreigners of education and enlightened views, must of necessity imbibe some of their ideas, and being in most cases better educated than the non-Christian natives naturally take amore interest in what is going on around them. On the other hand it cannot be said that the majority of the supporters of the independence movement are Christians, as according to Mr. Barker the total number of Christian converts in the Chientao district is only about 10.000 out of a total Korean population of about 300,000. Mr. Sakai, the acting Japanese consul-general at Lungchingtsun, put the number of Christians at a much higher figure than this, but he cannot be in such a good position to judge as Mr. Barker, and the latter's figures may be taken as correct. seems little doubt, however, that in several instances a deliberate set was made at Christians and Christian property during the outrages of last October, as Dr. Martin cited two or three cases in which native Christians had been shot by the Japanese troops for no other reason. The number of Christians actually killed was, according to Mr. Barker, about fifty, while the number of buildings destroyed was about four- teen (three or four churches and the rest schools).
There
But the fact of the matter is that in Chientao as in Korea itself the Japanese have only themselves to blame for the force which the independence movement has obtained during the past two years. They have by the ruthless measures adopted for its suppression so antagonised the Koreans that an intense wave of patriotism has swept through the country, and that practically every Korean, Christian and non-Christian, is bitterly opposed to everything Japanese.
In regard to (1), I think it can safely be said that the lives and property of the missionaries at Lungchingtsun are in no danger. The total number of British residents (including women and children) in the town is under twenty, and the majority of these are connected with the Canadian Presbyterian Mission. present the members of the mission are Dr. S. H. Martin, his wife and three children, the Rev. A. H. Barker and his wife and three unmarried ladies, one a nurse employed at the hospital, and the other two connected with the missionary ||| work. An architect, until recently employed by the Chinese maritime customs,ence on the part of the Japanese with the work which is being carried on by the whose wife was formerly a member of the mission, also occupies a house on the mission compound. They have three children, so that at present the total number of British subjects living on the premises is fifteen. Mr. Foote, the head of the mission, is at present absent in Canada with his wife.
The Canadian Presbyterian Mission, whose local headquarters are at Gensan. has no property anywhere in the Chientao district except at Lungchingtsun. Here their property consists of three pieces of land, the largest of which, about 15 acres in extent, occupies a fine position overlooking the wide valley in which the town of Lungchingtsun lies. Most of the land is let out to Koreans as farming land. The buildings on this piece of land consist of four residences and a hospital only. The other two pieces of property which are situated in the town of Lungchingtsun consist of a dispensary in one of the main streets of the town and a Korean building, used as a girls' school, standing in its own compound on the outskirts of the place. There is no other property belonging to the mission, i.e., British-owned, in the Chienta district, as though many of the churches scattered throughout the district have property (churches, schools, &c.), this is all registered in the names of the local
On the other hand, as far as I could learn, there is at present no direct interfer- missionaries, though at the same time there is little doubt that to a large extent the natives have been so terrorised by Japanese methods and by the fact that Christians are suspected and in many cases singled out for ill-treatment and petty annoyance by the Japanese police that they are reluctant to come forward. In October of last year the Japanese inaugurated a new sect, known as the Chung Neim Kyo, the avowed object of which was to offset Christianity. At first, I understand, large numbers of the natives joined the sect, though later, when it was found that its members had to conform in numerous ways to Japanese rules and regulations, it met with less favour. In fact, the Koreans are in a sense "between the devil and the deep sea.
as if they become Christians they are at once suspected by the Japanese, white if they conform to Japanese wishes they are looked upon by their countrymen as unpatriotic.
While at Lungchingtsun I duly called upon Mr. Sakai. the acting Japanese consul-general there, and presented to him the letter of introduction with which you had furnished me, and in which it was stated that I was visiting Chientao in order
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