LIFE IN MALAYA TO-DAY

Chronicle (Levin), 31 August 1946, Page 4

LIFE IN MALAYA TO-DAY

SLOW RECOVERY FROM JAP OCCUPATION PRICES EXCEEDIN GL Y HIGH The story of the still semichaotic state of Malaya after long Japanese occupation is told in a letter . to Mr. T. Taylor of Levin, from his- son, Mr. T. K. Taylor, who is an educational officer at the King Edward School at Taiping. . Recent cable items telling of the nigh degree of monetary inflation are borne out in his letter. They seem to have affected the "hospitality" trade in the main. A shilling as the price of a glass of water in Singapore was quoted recently. According t.o the letter, a meal ,vorth 2s in New Zealand cost Mr. Taylor 10s 3d in a Penang hotel. Afternoon tea was a mere 7s 4d! At Kuala Lumpur, which was very much in the news in the early stage }f the .Japanese inyasion, the use jf a room and three meals had cost nim £2 0s lOd. However, things are apparently gradually flnding their way back to norma!. Mr. Taylor says: "There has been a transformation in the country iince my arrival seven weeks ago; ■ailway travel is now civilised, and Singapore especially is more its old ,eif. Streets have been cleared of junk and refuse; goods are arriving m the shops and you can say that aormal life is on the way to estabishment. True. they want 43s 9d for a cheap Hong Kong shirt, 11s 8d for one camera film and £4 for a pair of canvas shoes, but these prices, black market as they are, are only a fraction of those two months ago. The large European shops are open, although their ihelves are literally 90 . per cent. bare. The army and services still occupy many schools, including RafTles University College,, but are vacating these gradually, as they are the "godowns" (warehouses on the waterfront). Raffles Hotel charges 43s 9d a day for very indifferent meals and three men to quite a large room, but life is functiohing. The Lion City — well, its thunder had the score all right. Its- docks stretch for miles (eighth port in the world in 1939) , and its streets and residential areas are well laid out. Its public amenities, hospitals, etc., are not bettered anywhere, when functioning normally." He touches on the food shortage: "The one snag in these parts is rice. The Asiatics dislike other food, and the result is endemic unrest, strikes, etc., and no relief is in sight for at least a year." Penang is referred to as a delightfui spot. "I am not surprised it is the most popular station in the country. Its population is about che same as Auckland's, and it is the second port to Singapore, and, [ think, has recovered more quiekly. The " residential areas are charming — tree-lined avenues, fine gardens, and an imposing commercial quarter. "This place (the hotel in which he stayed) is a fine, large building adjoining the station, and is still grimy and delapidated; the bath has no plumbing, the water spilling on to the floor and out by the outlet for sluicing in the floor; the barest furniture and no wardrobe or coat-pegs of any description. "Kuala Lumpur is now capital of Malaya (except Singapore, a separate colony) and of course, woefully congested, especially as it is Malaya Command H.Q. as well. I saw a fine hill park in the centre of the city, whence could be seen a lake at the foot, surrounded by a tree-lined drive. "The railway is metre guage, '.lightly narrower than New Zealand, but very similar; the longer time taken here on trips is due to the longer stops, to allow the wornout and ill-used rolling stock a bit of siack on the time-table. The state of restoration of all harbour facilities at Singapore still leaves much to. b€- •desir.e.d . vj . w'as- intier ested to see. Rkffles tiafcK" o& .liis^^isis^ . tal before the Town , l|all, and "ho; mark or sign that- the Kfips ;hadl 3ver removed him. I doubt i'f youi can find to-day a trace of Jap occupation — except of course the war damage to the docks." $ 1 "■ —