STRICKEN CHINESE.

STRICKEN CHINESE.

AUCKLAND RELATIVES LITTLE HELP POSSIBLE. MONEY DRAFTS RESTRICTED. Anxious to send help to who lost homes and possesions in the destruction of Canton, Chinese in Auckland find themselves blocked by the new regulations restricting the transfer of money overseas. Here, in Wellington, most of the Chinese community comes from Canton, and the Government's licensing scheme is for them the latest of a series of disasters. Mr. Andrew Chong, secretary of the Auckland Chinese Association, said that cables for assistance were being received regularly from dependents who had found refuge under British protection in Hongkong. Previously they had required little assistance, but now those who had found safety were left destitute. Efforts had been made to obtain drafts from Auckland banks to send them help, but these had been restricted to £8 in English currency, which was of little use to large families who had lost everytliiug. To obtain more, application had to be made for a special permit from the Government, but so far none had been obtained. In any case, said Mr. Chong, many of the Auckland Chinese could speak little English and could not understand how to go about the business of applying for permission. It was only because of the urgency of the situation that more money was required, he said, as normally they do not send away half the amount that has been going to China from Auckland since the fall of Canton. Previously their dependents in Canton, most of them farming their own plot of land, could supply most of their own needs. The position was changed when the hostilities moved south and their homes and crops were destroyed. This is not the greatest of their troubles, for many have lost their families as well as homes. For weeks after the fall of Canton the Auckland Chinese, while going about their business in their usual imperturbable style, knew nothing, of the fate of their people. Then numbers of cables eante from those who had reached the safety of Hongkong, and later letters telling of the horrors of the assault and capture of their home city. Numbers are still anxiously waiting for news of wives and children, who have either lost their lives or taken refuge in the interior. Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 308, 30 December 1938, Page 9