A VISIT TO THE PHILIPPINES

Otago Witness, Issue 2896, 15 September 1909, Page 27

A VISIT TO THE PHILIPPINES

TRAVELS OP A DUNEDIN; SOLICITOR. Thousands and thousands of miles away in the heart of the Philippine Isands there is at work a little' group of New Zealatndens. They are dredgenien, and the claim they, are_ -working is that of the Paracale Dredging Co., a New Zealand company formed to exploit the , claim acquired there. In connection with this com. pany it became- necessary for the solicitor ©n^aged in its affairs to visit it. Thus it was that Mr John Wilkinson, very well known in Dimedin legal circles, left his borne in April last and took his way to libe'far 'distant Philippines. 'He has spent his time while away to the very best advantage in the "direction of sightseeing; ■wherefore- it was, knowing that he had a £to?y to tell, a Witness reporter on the 10th invaded hie office with paper and pencil and solicited some description of iiis' i experiences, visits, journeys, and opinions.- Mr Wilkinson had barely settled into the swing- of- work after his return iouirney, but nevertheless placed a- busy hour at the reporter's 'disposal. . '. SUMMER SEAS. i "'lt was the 6th~of May," he commenced, ";when I l«ft ' Sydney , on the German ; 6teamer Prinx Waddemar for the passage j through the tropics to my destination. We touched at German New Guinea on the way and other German possessions, so I saw a little of German administration, fioiae German ' officials were fellow-pas-senger^ from Samoa, and these proved exceedingly nice and courteous. German | officaldoui was very much in evidence on j the occasion of the steamer's arrival at j any port, and the consuirflrtion of good * laager beer ' in honour of ' memories of the Fatherland ' was noc small ! The liquor consumption on the ship was said to be 3000 gallons for the trip from Sydney to .Hongkong and back! It was in the j height of summer when I was 'there, and j xhe heat was intense. It seemed to me j that New Guinea was a block rather than j a vhite man's country, and despite tho j immense profits which might be made in • the,, coacoanut industry, I, for one, would | prefer the salubrious climate of New Zealand. I should think It -would be a very long time before New > Guinea -was cultivated by a- white .population. ".Leaving New Guinea; -we passed the volcanic cone called Vulcan Island.' This was playing right merrily, and presented a fine sight Calling at * the Hertnit Islands, I visited Consul Waldren >in his lovely residence in the midst of a- splendid coeoanut grove. Striking- north from here, the next port reached was the great cable station Yap, in the Caroline Group, but passing -on - from here through the Bernardino Strait, w« reached the large. Bay of Manila — about 20 by 30 miles in extent— and the city of Manila, built on Hhe shores of the Passig River." 'THE ORIENT AND OCCIDENT. "-And Manila?" queried the reporter. "-Manila is a city of complexities. There the .West meets the East, and the strangest contrasts are" seen. l\he new city has out*rowii the bounds of the old city — tho walls of which are still standing and now possesses. in the ' neighbourhood of a million people. From - the anchorage evidences of activity are visible in the shape of new harbour works, dredging for which is proceeding apace. Plainly the Americans are pushing tho town. Entering the streets tfce West meets us wifrh a rushing up-to-date electric- tram, and the East emerges from the dust in the shape of an antiquated wooden vehicle drawn by a plodding 'caroboa,' guided by a sleepy native by means of a rope attached to a ring, through the animal's nose. Again, there is toe little carometa, or pony carriage, for a halfhour's ride in which about Is 6d is pcid. The streets are alive with colour. The Filipino women pass and crowd -with their bright aaid gauzy colours — unbonneted heads — giving "the whole street a bright, attractive, and vivacious appearance. 'Ihe American women, too, it is interesting to notice, belong to the " hatiess brigade,' ! and derive such protection as . is needed from 'tihe sun by means of pretty parasols. The architecture of the town is mainly of old Spanish design, and the names in business in the main stnreets are still largely Spanish. A great deal of the business of the- town |c done by Chinese, whose business ramifications appear to extend over the I whole of the 11 main islands of the group. The Filipino does. not seem. to have a great capacity for business, but he and *he . Chinese _ have a certain degree of affinity, intermarrying gees on, and the races amalgamate very well. THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION. " This," said Mr Wilkinson, "is plainly apparent in the existence of the big military barracks, the private residences, the ° increasing trading premises, especially the huge cold storage buildings, and in the general tidying up- and cleansing that the .whole place seems to have had. There is a fine bridge there — the Santa Cruz. — which was built over the Passig by American engineers and soldiers, and further evidence of the activity of the Westerners is seen in the magnificent recreation ground known as the ' Lunetta.' The Filipinos have been granted a Public Assembly, but its work did not appear to me to be of any political significance, being more academical than practical. The administration of the law appears to be quite satisfactory, and there are a number of able •judges and lawyers resident in the capital. 1 was introduced to some of these, ami greatly enjoyed my intercourse with them. In one place the court adjourned for a quarter of an hour in order to allow of J the • Bench and Bar meeting me. The | are aiming at developing the country in every way. For cne thing, thsy have exterminated the mosquito by requiring' the filling- up of the old moats jwhich had bean round the walls of the old town. They were strictly enforcing sound health regulations, and thus improving the conditions for living in the hot climate, ffhey have been -wonderfully benevolent in their administration, and have in hand extensive schemes in regard to education, • etc., and these are already beginning to bear fruit "COMBAT DE CHICKED." r " One thing 1 noticed in the streets as c peculiar," continued Mr Wilkinson, "was | that we would often meet Filipinos carryfejng roosters under their arms. The ulterior •

object of this, I found, was to accustom the bird to crowds, so that it would be calm and not alarmed when it was required to undergo the ' combat de chicken,' or, translated, ' cock-fighting.' This is the one great popular sport. I went to one of these matches, and found present about 3000 people. It seemed to me to be very cruel, and the gambling factor appeared to be the chief reason for the existence of the institution. The authorities wink at the continuance of cock-fighting, because, the people aa a whole are so inert that if they were not permitted to raise poultry for this purpose no poultry would be reared at all. Cock-fighting is the price paid for a supply of eggs and poultry !' •THE PEOPLE'S AMUSEMENTS. " The people as a whole are extremely musical and vivacious. Their bands are very fine, and one, when it visited America, secured a very prominent position in competition They are indeed splendid instrumentalists. One of the most popular pastimes is that of dancing, chiefly taking the form of waltzing. There -are establishments in almost every street, and immediately after dark dancing commences, and is carried on till a late hour. The character of the -Filipino seems to by rather weak in many wayß. The labour problem seems to be rather acute, as the native, after he has a few paesos, prefers to take his ease for a little while rather than continue hard manual labour day bj day. He is not engaged in business verj much, though it is said that the youthful Filipinos are very intelligent in the schools. It is said, also, that, since the American occupation, the appearance of the people has considerably changed. The men dress in fine white suits, have very frequently patent leather boots, and as a result of this dandyism many of them become perfectly useless for manual toil. When times get hard "they economise ; Qrsfc on their clothing, th««n on their food, and lasfclv on their cigarettes. Everybody smokes — to such an extent, indeed, that they actually measure distance by the number of ' cigarillos ' used while walking there. The Filipino is said to be untrustworthy, ungrateful, indolent, and cruel, but, speaking honeaKy. from my limited experience I found him to be responsive to kindness, hospitable, charitable, oblig ing, and very courteous. LANGUAGES. " There are about 34 different kinds of Filipinos, and these speak about 70 languages and a large number of dialects. For practical purposes these languages are reduced to three, those spoken in Manila being American, Spanish, and Tagalog. From what I could learn of the native tongues * they seemedf very, difficult to acquire, and -I should think, in connection with their evangelisation, that the quickest way to accomplish that end would be to teach them English in the schools rather than to attempt to send the Gospel to them in their own tongues^ Spanish is by no means so general among the natives in the country as one would imagine. The old Spaniards got the upper hand of them and " put them in their place." Americans, on the other hand, have treated them like^' their black brothers,' but the native has not yet learnt to appreciate the kind and really benevolent and humane treat- j ment which has been accorded him. Before I tell you of my trip inland, let me say that Manila seems to be a very busy centre, with a large quantity of shipping and a fleet of river and canal boats. There are large cigar factories, chocolate manufactories, abbatoirs, and many other fine buildings budding out into a big trade. MINING MATTERS. " Of course, my visit was associated with business connected with gold mining, and as a preliminary to that I had occasion to visit a large number of departmental institutions, and m this connection I must say that I never received more courteous treatment from any set of public officers than I received from these. Naturally, I had most to do with those in the Mines Department, and nothing seemed to be too much trouble for these to go to. Leaving Manila by a Spanish steamer, I visited the site of the Paracale Gold Mine. I found all the New Zealanders there well, and pushing on the industry. The Para cale was then getting good returns, while the Stanley Paracale was nearing completion, and the Philippine Company's dredge was expected to be started very shortly. There seems to be no doubt that there is very good gold to be got in the placer or dredger areas, but the field is rather limited, and claims have nearly all been pegged off. Reefs or lode claims are now being exploited, and some wonderfully rich samples of gold have been procured One company has just begun to crush, but we did not hear what returns were obtained. Tho fields there have been worked by the Chinese and Spanish fov some centuries, and I entered many an old ' adit,' or shaft, made in former times I imagine that there will be more gold got from the reefs in the future than from the dredging claims. THE INLAND TOUR. " I visited quite a number of the small inland towns and villages, and had good opportunities of seeing the native life in the mountainous inland region. I found the natives everywhere most courteous and obliging, and there was never the slightest danger to one's life from them. The dangerous regions are to be found in other islands, such as Mindanas. The tour inland occupied several weeks, and the mode of travelling was first by steamer, second by banca, or dugout log canoes, and thirdly by ' hiking,' the American term for walking. We were accompanied by natives, who boi-e the burden and cleared the path with their " bollo,' a very necessary and serviceable heavy knife. The bush and forest is very thick, and there are enormous quantities of valuable timbers still standing there waiting to be cleared by the settler's axe. The districts are mostly mountainous, and in these parts the cultivation is very crude. The Ampricans a re hoping to displace the ol<l wooden plough and the ' caraboa,' and native methods of both draining and ploughing, by modern and efficient machinery. The cultivation that I saw was chiefly con-

cerned with rice, hemp, and tobacco, with a very little rubber. The interior of the island is very rich in minerals, and these are being developed, but agriculture is the thing that the Americans are looking to. THE CLIMATE. " The climate is a very fine one, the average temperature being about 80deg., and it never rises above lOOdeg. or sinks below 60deg. Fires are never needed, nor are overcoats. The nights are lovely, and the starlight and moonlight was such as to be brilliant. The sunsets are wonderful in their golden glory, while the continuous lightning, accompanied by heavy rain, was also a thing to be remembered. The country being very mountainous, these latter phenomena are quite common. One of the chief mountains is called Mount Mayon. It is a volcano, and is noteworthy for being ' a very beautiful cone. One thing that I thought might be very greatly developed was the fishing industry. The seas abound with fish of all descriptions, and I found that everything that was taken in the net; was eaten. This included devil fish, shark, crabs, sardines, or anything. CATHEDRALS AND CHURCHES. The Spanish cathedrals are very fine buildings, and particularly was this the case with one very splendid one in the Byzantine style of architecture. I did not have the opportunity of seeing very many, but I heard a good deal of one. Opposite where I was staying in one towa there was a cathedral which possessed a set of bells > which had been sent out by Queen Isabella, and these were ringing day and night — in season and out of season ! I did not see | much of mission work while I was there, but while at the Paracale claim I conducted service four times for the men there, and because of this I was dubbed " the American padre" by the people, every white man being to them an American. I also had the opportunity of conduoting a service with Filipinos as a congregation. In this case, of course, an interpreter was re1 quired. I visited three American churches | — namely, Dr Rossiter's Presbterian Church, an Episcopal Methodist, and the Central j j Wesleyan Church, as well as the Byzantine ! Cathedral. At Dr Rossiter's church I heard i sung an American anthem entitled "America." The words of this were totally unfamiliar, but the tune seemed known to me. It was that grand ,old piece " God save the King " with the label "' America " attached to it. I could not join in it except the last verse, which was a passage of p praise. At Manila I attended the very interesting function of decorating the graves . of the soldiers on Decoration Day. A ' military band was playing, and after the j firing of salutes ladies placed wreaths and I [ flowers on the graves of -those son 3of America who had died ;n; n battle. LOYAL NEW ZEALANDERS. " I was glad to find that the New Zea- I landers there had not become citizens of , the United States, but lemained loyal to thaif own country. I found that the one unfulfilled desire which they had was to ' obtain a New Zealand fla# which they could hoist on the occasion of the universal flying of the Stars and Stripes on July 4. ' This they asked me to do for them. These j men all seemed contented and quite satisfied that they were able to compete with > their American cousins in the gold dredging industry." j And any experiences? asked the reporter . in conclusion. _ j " Well, a centipede — a poisonous one — j managed to get through my helmet and j into ray hair, but fortunately I succeeded in getting rid of him without being bitten. That was all."