Australia’s Neighbors.

Hokitika Guardian, 23 April 1921, Page 3

Australia’s Neighbors.

JAVA’S 35,000,000 PEOPLE, SYDNEY, April 12. The Australian people are beginning to take a good deal of interest in the great. Dutch island of Java, which, so far as geographical distance is concerned, is an even nearer neighbour than

New Zealand. The Governor-General of the Dutch Tnst Indies, Count Limburg Stirum, is at present in Australia. and he is certainly doing something to advertise his country.

A census of the Dutch East Indies has just been taken, and it shows 35,000,000 people in Java and 10,000,000 in the other islands—that is, there are more people tucked away in this archipelago than there are in the whole of the British Isles. There are no political disturbances there. Comparing the country with India, and explaining why Java, is calm a.nd peaceful while all the rest of the world is boiling, the Count said that the Javanese were a placid, contented people, and the system of education put into operation by the Dutch was very different from the British system in India. The British he said, started at the top; the Dutch from the bottom. The British produced a great many lawyers and such like, for whom there was no place in the country, and who simply bred all sorts ; of trouble. The Dutch, on the other ! hand, simply educated the natives in j the native language. Only a few were educated in Dutch, and very few j indeed were given a high degree of ! education. The result was that there j was a keen demand for educated natives, all of whom had good positions .

and were happy and contented. There is only one university for natives in Java, and it does not teach politics. It is practically a technical university turning out engineers, doctors and such like.

There is an abundance of labour in the islands, and the Dutch administration is developing a great hydro-elec-tric scheme, and at the same time greatly extending the railway system. The result will he seen in enormously increased production presently—and the island will produce almost anything—and the increasing wealth of a territory already very wealthy.

It is an interesting fact that, although there are no restrictions on Asiatic immigration, the Japanese are not entering the Dutch Indies. The climate, it is said, is too hot for them. Rut the Chinese from Southern China are coming to this territory in great numbers. The Dutch did not object to them. They were sober and industrious and made good citizens. It is believed that there is a great future for trade between Australia and .Java. At present, the two countries scarcely know each other—although a great tourist traffic between the two has sprung up lately.