CHAPTER VI

ADMINISTRATION


Shortly after the incidents referred to in Chapter IV, I received
General Otani's orders to take over the command of the railway and the
districts for fifty versts on either side, from Spascoe to Ussurie
inclusive. My duty was to guard the railway and administer the district,
taking all measures necessary to keep open this section of the line of
communications. I was instructed to fix my headquarters at Spascoe, and
make all arrangements to winter there. In accordance therewith I
proceeded to get into touch with what remained of the old Russian
authorities, civil and military, and the new ones wherever such had been
created. So far as the men's comfort was concerned, new roads were
constructed and old ones repaired, broken windows and dilapidated walls
and woodwork were either replaced or renovated. Electrical appliances
were discovered and fixed, and what had previously been a dull, dark
block of brickwork suddenly blossomed out into a brilliantly lighted
building and became at night a landmark for miles around.

We also began painfully to piece together the broken structure of human
society. For over a year no law but force had been known in these
regions, and many old wrongs and private wounds demanded liquidation. I
made many journeys to outlandish villages and settlements, with a small
personal escort, fixed a table in the centre of the street, and with the
aid of the parish priest and the president of the local council, heard
and decided disputes, public and private, from threats and injury to the
person to the possession and occupation of a farm. There was no
appeal--the stolid Tommies who stood behind me with fixed bayonets put