LUNCHEON CLUB

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 9, 8 December 1926, Page 2

LUNCHEON CLUB

“IN A JAVANESE TOWN.” ADDRESS BY MR HUGH WILSON. Mr Hugh Wilson, who was stationed for a period while in the employ of the Eastern Extension Cable Company at Banjoewangi, in the east end of Java, on the Bali Straits, was the speaker at to-day’s Citizens’ Luncheon Club, when he entertained members with an enlightened lecturette on the conditions prevailing in the district in which ho lived. Mr Wilson is spending the tail end of a six months’ holiday in Wanganui, and at the end of January he is to journey, to Madras, still in the employ of the Eastern Extension" Company. Mr R. S. Abraham was to-day’s chairman and briefly introduced tho speaker. In describing the cross-country journey to his station, Mr Wilson stated that a train trip in Java was completed at six o’clock every evening. The journey itself was rather discomforting, for wood, not coal, was used and the consequent smoke and dirt were practically ruination to oue’s clothes.

Banjoewangi, proceeded the speaker, had a population of 40,000: most of the people were Dutch, a good many were Chinese (they owned the majority of the shops), there were a few Japanese and some Arabs, the latter lending money —there were no banks within a radius of 200 miles —on the crops coming forward, and probably at 10 per cent per month. The province in which Banjoewangi * was situated was more concerned with agricultural than pastoral pursuits. There were several small holdings from which, through a great system of Dutch irrigation, tlie owners were able to get two crops of rice per year. There was also near the town of Banjoeu/angi about three thousand acres of sugar cane under cultivation, also maize and bananas, and iu tho higher parts of Java (something like the 1000 feet level) coffee and rubber were produced.

Banjoewangi was a port of call for mails for ships running between Singapore and Western Australia, but only three steamers arrived yearly. The harbour was causing a deal of anxiety because of the monsoons experienced in the last three years and the consequent silting up of the river making lightering work most difficult. When the speaker was at Banjoewangi a Danish three masted barque (a training ship for Danish boys who would eventually become officers) arrived and loaded rubber and maize for Copenhagen. It struck Mr Wilson as peculiar that Dutch grown maize .and rubber should be labelled in English lettering: “Best Dutch Maize” or “Best Dutch Rubber” as the case might be. Pointing out that the Dutch built houses low on the ground and with short uprights, and contrasting them with the airy edifices erected by the British, the speaker went on to state that Banjoewangi was the second most unhealthy place in Java. There typhoid, Malaria and enteric abounded ; tho areas under cultivation could not be sprayed with an antidote for by so doing tho crops would bo ruined. Referring once more to the growing of rubber, Mr Wilson stated that within a radius of 75 miles there were several rubber estates run by Scottish companies, each of which generally had a British manager with generally one English to one Dutch worker. Ay trip to the mountain areas of Java was next described by Mr Wilson, who related, incidentally, the intense heat his party encountered on this trip, but Dutchmen they had seen playing tennis at 12 o’clock in the day undor a tropical sun, and without hats, were quite unconcerned. Entering the jungle lands, continued the speaker, one found that they were very much like New Zealand bush—tree ferns, palms of all sorts, big trees and thick undergrowth—but ono did not seo much jungle life, except a few monkeys and wild pigeons. Tho fir country, which reminded Mr Wilson very much of Alt. Stewart in New Zealand, seemed an ideal place for cattle raising, but the speaker had been told that it was riot possible to get water—it would be too expensive to cart water there—and there would always bo trouble from tigers. Mr Wilson concluded his remarks with a brief reference to a wonderful bluo-groen lake in this country and a semi-extinct volcano, both of which were continuously kept under observation by the Dutch. A vote of thanks, on the motion of Mr C. A. E. Ferguson, was accorded the speaker.