The Fungus Industry.

Fungus is still pickled In some of the bnsli districts, but the war at present raging in China'has had a disastrous effect on the fungus market. It is just about <0 years since ChewChong a Chinese storekeeper at Xew Plymouth, found out the value of fungus as a "marketable commodity, and offered to buy as much of it as the struggling settlers of that time were able to gather from the stumps in tlic btish clearings which settlement had inado, and was "making. What the kauri •rum industry was in Auckland, so the fungus industry was to Taranaki in those early days. Although Taranaki was the birthplace of the .fungus industry, it was not many years till the trade in fungus spread over all the bush districts in the Dominion. Not long after the Great War, when dried, it was worth Rd per lb. and was then quite a thriving industry. When Chew Chong first bought it he paid id per lb for it, but the price rose during the years to about 3d or 4d per lb, the Maoris being the chief gatherers. The demand for the fungus -was unlimited in China because of the use which was made of it for culinary purposes, especially in the making of vege! table soup. Just at the moment the sale of fungus is at the lowest ebb.
Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 169, 20 July 1939, Page 10

BACKBLOCKS SETTLERS.

Chong the old Chinese storekeeper, found out the value of the fungus which used to grow on the stumps in the bush clearings. After it was pulled and dried he was willing to pay "tuppence" a lb for it if we could only get it to his place of business over a score of miles away. Wo very soon became capitalists in a small way and it was the first pocket money we ever earned. Every boy in the place soon possessed a pocket knife. The other day a notice appeared in the newspapers offering tenpence per lb for fungus. If we had got that price fifty years ago what happy boys we would have been. There was not a very good feeling existing between the settlers' families and the Maoris on account of the feuds between them, and very often the Maoris who were very poor and had little or no money, would stealthily come into I the pakeha's clearings and steal his fungus. Often we would go out with our bags to get a good haul after scouting the previous day to see where the most fungus was, only to find that in the early morning the Maoris had come and "pinched" it all. Revenge is sweet, even in young boys' minds, and the way we paid out our enemies was that we went into their peach plantations and stole their fruit, at the risk of our lives, while we had plenty in our own orchards. We did this quite on our own for our parents would never have allowed it had they known. Chew Chong who established the fun- I gus industry, was a kindly-hearted man who used to laugh at the way we used to bargain with him to try and get as much as we could for our produce. He also had the credit of establishing the first butter factory in Taranaki, and was a man much trusted by those who did business with him. He died at a great age a year or two ago at New Plymouth.  Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 302, 20 December 1924, Page 30

Siblings recall father's untiring efforts

BY MICHELE ONG

Last updated 11:23 25/04/2009

0

Share

ROBERT CHARLES

The Chong siblings, from left, Brian, Margaret and Michael at the Te Henui gravesite of their parents, Gerald and Ethel Chong. Gerald was one of the few Kiwis of Chinese descent to serve in WWI

When dawn breaks on Anzac Day, Taranaki resident Brian Chong will remember his father's medal-winning World War I service as a stretcher-bearer.
Brian's father Gerald McNaughton Chong was one of only a handful of Kiwis of Chinese descent to serve in the war - a source of immense pride for his family.
His bravery under intense German shelling saw him awarded the Military Medal for "conspicuous bravery" but Brian says his father was "just an ordinary man who did his bit for his country".
"My brother and I would visit our father's grave after the parade, to put a poppy on it," he says.
"We used to compete to see who would get there first and my brother would beat me to it."
But his father was one of the many men who returned from the war and preferred to leave it behind, refusing to talk about his experiences, not wanting to be reminded of the horrors he had seen.
"He would say, though, that on Christmas Day they would yell out season's greetings to the Germans - because their lines were very close," he says.
"He said they would throw tins of jam to each other."
Many Chinese-New Zealanders declined to serve in the war because of their marginalised status. But Gerald McNaughton Chong volunteered to join the Medical Corp.
The youngest son of Chew Chong, a prominent member of the community who pioneered selling and manufacturing the pound of butter and built one of the first butter factories in 1885, and Taranaki local Elizabeth Whatton, the daughter of a settler involved in ironsand smelting, was a chemist's assistant.
He enlisted and joined the New Zealand Medical Corp as a stretcher-bearer, being attached to work with the No 1 Field Ambulance.
Initially an officers corp, an amendment in 1908 defence regulations saw "all officers, non-commissioned officers and men connected with the medical service of the permanent force, militia and volunteer, formed into the New Zealand Medical Corps".
General Sir Ian Hamilton ordered the corp organise field ambulances and "make every use of men whose civilian training fitted them to the work".
With his training as a chemist's assistant, Gerald Chong was quickly admitted and in May 1916 sailed for Plymouth on the Willochra, reaching England two months later.
He was sent to Bapaume in France, where www.britainatwar.org.uk records: "The ground shook and tolled humanity by the second."

Being a stretcher-bearer was exhausting work.
Chong carried wounded men to aid posts to receive treatment and later to dressing stations where they would have their bleeding stopped, splints applied, or have their wounds stitched.
In his book The New Zealanders at Gallipoli Fred Waite wrote: "A man without a load can dash from cover to cover, but the stretcher-bearers, with their limp and white-faced burdens, must walk steadily on, ignoring sniper and hostile gunners. Hour after hour the work went on, until after 20 hours' stretcher-bearing these unheeded heroes fell in their tracks from sheer exhaustion".
Chong's life was constantly at risk from bullets, shells and gas as he waded through mud and shell craters to remove the wounded from the battlefield.
One corp sergeant said he would never forget the experience: "A 12-stone weight on the stretcher, a dark night, a little drizzling rain, groping our way down the steep incline through prickly scrub, our wounded man crying with pain and begging for a drink every few yards, incessant rifle fire and bullets whizzing all around us."
In 1918 Bapaume came under intense enemy bombardment on August 25. The New Zealand Division suffered heavy losses and more than 300 were wounded. Heavy overnight rain meant heavy mud made the conditions for the stretcher- bearers almost impossible.
Chong was on duty at one of the bearer-posts and worked continuously for 36 hours carrying the wounded despite the weather and heavy shelling, winning his medal.
It is not possible to determine how many Chinese-New Zealand men served in World War I, a time of intense and open racism against the Chinese.
But like Chong, that did not deter Arnold Wong Lee, who also had a European mother, from "answering his country's call", as the inscription on his parents' headstone in Hastings reads: "He was killed in action on November 24, 1917 at the age of 19."
Another soldier of Chinese ethnicity was Clarence Eric Kee, who stayed in France with the Canterbury Infantry Regiment from 1917 until the end of the war, despite being wounded during his service.
In 1920 his father, Frank Kow Kee, was granted naturalisation because of his son's service, making him one of only four Chinese naturalised between 1908 and 1952 - years when Chinese were not allowed to become permanent citizens.
Michele Ong is a Fairfax intern student at AUT

BLAZE AT STRATFORD.

A CLEAN SWEEP. THIRTEEN FIACES BURNED. BUSINESS BLOOTi DESTROYED. (By Talegrapli.—Press Association.) STRATFORD, this day. A fire broke out shortly after midnight on the east side of Broadway, and, spreading quickly, destroyed a large portion of the block before the conflagration was arrested. The buildings destroyed were on a rail-way leasehold, and aU were of wood. The fire originated, in Mr. Sheahan's tobacconist shop, the same building also being occupied by Messrs. Sladen and Palmer, engineers, and Mr. Ford, bootmaker. The next building, occupied by Mr. Finnerty, estate agent, was destroyed, and also a block of buildings known as York Chambers, occupied by Mr. Richardson, grocer, Mr. Fargie, estate agent, Mr. Tyrer, solicitor, Mr. McCluggage, estate agent, Mr. Cook, tailor, Mr. Healey, architect,On Kee grocer, Harris, fishmonger, and Barker's refreshment rooms, all being practically destroyed.

The Central Co-operative Grocery Stores -were damaged severely, as was Foster's boot shop at the other end of the block. THE INSURANCES. In.surant__s so far available show: Dr. Paget's building, £525, in the United. Sheaban's stock, fittings, and billiard table, £400, in the Oceanf Ford's stock and stools, £50, in the Ocean. Theosophical Society, furniture, £30, in the Ocean. Kurgest' building, £700,' State. Fire Oflice. Tyrer, office furniture, £100, in the Northern. Mrs. Barker, stock and fitting's, £250, in the Atlas. S. S. Cook, furniture and stock, £50, in the Atlas. Harris, stock and fittings, £100, in the Commercial Union. J. D. Healey, office furniture, £50, in the Commercial Union On Kce, building £400, stock £500, in the Commercial Union. Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 107, 6 May 1919, Page 5

JOKE THAT MISCARRIED.

INTRUDERS IN CHINESE SHOP. FIRED ON BY OWNER. ONE WOUNDED IN THE LEG. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) HAWERA, this day. The ''Star's" Patea correspondent telegraphs that the peace of Patca was dig. turbed about 11 o'clock last night by the sound of discharging firearms. Wong, a fruiterer in Egmont Street, when retiring to bed heard sounds of his back window opening, and shortly after heard the footsteps of two men within the building. Wong loaded a revolver and went to the door of the room whence the sound came. All was in darkness. He called out two or three times "Hands up." Thrre was no response to the demand, and Wong fired at the floor. He again challenged without result and again fired, but this time hit one of the intruders in the leg. The other, who was unwounded, made a hasty exit. The wounded man came to Wong who, keeping him covered, switched on the light in the shop and ordered the man off the premises. The wounded man is now in hospital. The affair seems to have started in a joke to frighten Wong. Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 299, 15 December 1923, Page 6

BANKRUPT Chinese

THREE CONVICTIONS ENTERED PROPER BOOKS NOT KEPT. DEBTS ILLEGALLY CONTRACTED.

After a brief retirement, the jury returned a verdict of guilty on three indictments preferred against a young Chinese well known in commercial and athletic circles, Chan Shiu Fong (Mr. McLiver), at the Supreme Court this morning. The three indictments were: (1) Having failed to keep proper books of accounts; (2) having, while bankrupt, contracted a debt of £24 to Radley and Company, and £50 to the Pacific Trading Company; (3) having, while an undischarged bankrupt, contracted a debt of upwards of £20 to Ros and Glendining. On a fourth indictment, which the foreman stated had not been considered by the jury, Mr. Justice Alpers made an entry of not guilty. This charge was that, while an undischarged bankrupt, accused had obtained credit from Macky, Logan, Caldwell, Ltd., to an amount upwards of £20. Fong was remanded for sentence till Monday next, at 10 a.m. In 1022 Fong was a fruiterer and market gardener at Hawera. Creditors pressed him, and issued a bankruptcy petition, but he disappeared, leaving a letter to the clerk of the Court, in which he asked that the business be sold and matters settled. Fong owed a considerable sum at this stage, said Mr. S. L. Paterson, in opening tbe case for the Crown. Next, he commenced as a fruiterer at Morrinsville, trading under the name of Sun. He dealt witn firms to whom he was then owing money. A commercial traveller discovered that .Sun was Fong. In August, 1923, Fong was served with a bankruptcy petition and adjudicated. Fong disappeared, and was found in Wellington. >sext he was found in Whangarei, where he opened a silk and fancy goods shop under the name of the Shanghai Trading Company. Representing that he was in partnership with the company, he incurred several debts. When told that he was a bankrupt, Fong said he was only manager for the company. However, Eaid Mr. Paterson, it would be shown that Fong was the Shanghai Trading Company, no other person being interested in it. R. S. Sage, deputy Official Assignee at Hawera, deposed that accused had not kept proper books. The proved debts amounted to £383, about £S0 of which, were Morrinsville debts. Mr. McLiver stated that Fong had a system at Hawera whereby he knew what his financial position was. It was usual for Chinese to put names, other than their own, on shops. Some of the debts contracted while Fong was bankrupt had been paid. When Fong incurred the debts he honestly thought he could pay them. Had he been allowed to continue, he would have been able to pay. Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 105, 6 May 1925, Page 6

Eltham Fruitshop

A man walked into the shop of a Chinese fruiterer at Eltham the others day, and his attention was arrested by three healthy-looking Chinese boys, a whose ages would be from about 9 to 13. Though not :in anthropologist the man's interest was aroused in these, representatives of one of the greatest Eastern traits.  He had never seen Chinese boys at work or at play before, and as he watched these three sorting fruit he endeavoured to engage the Chinaman in charge of the shop in conversation about them. "Are those your boys," he asked? The shopkeeper acknowledged the relationship. and the customer, to keep the conversation going, remarked that they were fine hoys. The Chinaman needed no encouragement to talk after that. "No like-ee work," he said, "too much play-play all time. Eatum up all a plofit, too." He reflected a moment, and then went on: "Too much row—row  —row all-ee time: sometimes fight, too  fight, fight, all-ee time." "Oh, well,"  he said, after another little pause, "can't  help-ee," in a tone which conveyed to the customer his appreciation of the saying, "Boys will be boys. Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 301, 17 December 1920, Page 2