Clapham Junction of the Far East.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 September 1920, Page 1

Clapham Junction of the Far East.

(Bv Professor Middleton Smith). SINGAPORE. Raffles is a name familiar to readers of detective There was, however, a real Raffles; he was one of the niost romantic figures of British Imperial history. He lived about a hundred years ago, and he laid the foundations of a modern entrepot of trade. As I wiite I can see a statue, that of Sir Stamford Raffles, in front of a theatre in the tropics. The brilliant sunshine and the luxurious vegetation frame the stern features of a Great Englishman. In 1819 the island of Singapore was unimportant in the history of the world. But Raffles was an curlier Cecil Rhodes. Knowing this part of the world, he had visions which made him see the immense- possibilities of har Eastern trade. He planted, on a small island at the base of the Malay Peninsula, -a torch which has sent its rays into the jungle of native ignorance, idolatry, and superstition. We have just returned from a three hours’ motor drive around .the island of Singapore. We passed through rubber plantations, riding smoothly over tarmac roads. The wealthy inhabitants of this Colony are not British but Parsees and Chinese who have benefited so much from the results of British administration. Beyond tlie town we saw traces of the jungle disappearing rapidly. It, is being reclaimed for rubber plantations. That is the simple sto'ry of Malaya—a jungle-of poisonous vegetable matter, breeding bodily disease, and also a jungle of mental ignorance. Both are disappearing at the approach of the British pioneer.

More than one-half of the population of this British Crown Colony in Malaya are Chinese. The Chinese have journeyed hundreds of miles to this land of promise, and they have prospered exceedingly. . Commercially, Singapore is remarkable for it's huge transit trade. It owes its prosperity to various factors. There is, first of all, its unique geographical position. Tiiat makes it the converging point of the trade routes of the East. Steamers from Europe, India, Ceylon, Biirma, Siam, China, Japan, America, the Dutch East Indies, British Malaya, and from Australia fide at:fuel ior in tlie harbour. ... “Change here” are Word's Which ‘auto--matically come;to mind as one watches the transit of merchandise from steamer to warehouse and from warehouse to another steamer. Singapore is a huge depot for collecting and distributing the produce of the Far East and the products of the factories of Europe. . It .is the Claphnm Junction of the Far East. . - .

We accept the accident of geography and the story of British Colonial enterprise here with but little surprise. It is the other’ factor, the influx of Chinese, which makes Singapore so unique. These Chinese in Singapore to-day are no longer Chinese. Many of them speak two languages, Malay and English. They cannot speak the native tongue of their fathers. There are millions of Chinese who are British subjects. They know the advantages to themselves and their families of the clean adnrinistrdtiqn in British Malaya. Singapore is an example of the advantage of Anglo-Chinese co-operation. Perhaps China itself will reap benefits iii the near future from the same sys-