CONDITIONS IN BURMA.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 August 1925, Page 4

CONDITIONS IN BURMA.

A contented province. ACCJvLAXI), August 10. Comparatively happy and prosperous by comparison with many parts of the Empire is the. impression ol Burma gathered from Air 11. Smiles. <d the "Rangoon Gazette,’’ wlio is visiting Auckland as one of the delegates to the conference ot the Empire Press Elliott. •‘Yes, I am a nephew ol Samuel Smiles, untilin'; ol 'Self Help’ find other hooks." he admitted in reply to an inquiry. Roth from the political and the economic points of view Rurma wins in a fairly happy condition, said Mr Smiles. As a province, of the Indian Empire Rurma had been granted a liberal constitution. and there was more co-opera-ion with the governing lace than there was in any other province ol India. IluriimN case was in sharp contrast to licit of Ren gal, where constitutional reforms bad broken down. On the whole the new regime worked well, although there was a largo demand among the native population lor domininn status. Polities were often the reties of economic conditions and in Rurma'- material well-being was to !>e round the secret of her content■ nielli. The province had very large export-. and for her produce there was a ready market. The post-war depression that had affected most countries was only temporary in Rurma, and the leeway long since had been recovered. The solid basis of Burma's trade was rice, of which there was an exportable surplus annually valued at £‘JO.O(IO.OOO to £30.000,(100. The market- was almost unlimited among Eastern peoples, but Burma sold principally to India. Germany, however, bought a good deal of rice for use in making lager beer. Tinder, childly teak, was also exported largely, and there wore oil deposits three hundred miles from the Coast whose product was brought to the sea by a pipe line. The Burma Oil Company was large and prosperous, and with the British Government, was the largest shareholder in the Anglo-Per-sian Oil Company. Imports came largcy from Britain, although Germany was slowly re-estab-lishing her pre-war connections. So far as X'ew Zealand was concerned there was r.ot much opening for trade, save that the Dominion could supply Burma with certain classes of provisions. Australia had already entered that business. and was sending Burma jams, biscuits, tinned butter and other provisions. Afore direct steamer eoniiee-

tion would bo required before New Zealand could hope to share in this trade. As showing the difficulty of connections Mr Smiles said it had taken him forty-three days to reach Auckland, coming via Colombo, while the English Press delegates, after travelling twice ns far, would arrive on Sunday, only thirty days out from London. “Ye country, however, offers a favourable field for the retirement of Burmese officials. 1 ' said Mr Smiles. “I know several who have- come here, and they like your land. On the other hand, you have sent engineers to Burma, and during the twenty years the gold dredging industry has been established there it has been staffed chiefly by New Zealand engineers."