THE DUTCH EAST INDIES

Southland Times, Issue 24227, 10 September 1940, Page 3

THE DUTCH EAST INDIES

Wealthy Colonial Empire

TO THE ISLES OF SPICE. By Frank Clune. Angus and Robertson, Sydney. Price 12/6. Frank Clune’s latest book of travel could not have been published at a more opportune time. Since the beginning of this year the Dutch East Indies, one of the world’s wealthiest colonial empires, have occupied a prominent place in the cable news, mainly because the German threat to, and subsequent occupation of, the Netherlands created a temptation to expansionist Powers to share in the wealth of this rich group of islands, which contains more than 50,000,000 coloured people. Mr Clune, an observant writer who has travelled extensively in the Far East, does not believe that the Japanese contemplate southward expansion, but he devotes part of his book to emphasizing the importance of the Dutch colonial defence system to Australia. He is more interested in the Dutch East Indies as an outlet for Australian exports. He points out many methods by which Australian business men could create bigger markets for their goods and so increase the Commonwealth’s economic influence in the islands. His observations recall that New Zealand once had a flourishing trade in the export of cavalry horses to the East where even now armies are not fully mechanized. JOURNEY BY AIR Mr Clune’s journey was covered entirely in the aeroplanes of the Royal Netherlands Indies Airways Company (K.N.1.L.M.), a wonderful organization for which he has the greatest admiration. He flew from Botany Bay to Darwin, Bathurst Island, Timor, Java, Borneo and Celebes, and then went on for a glance at Indo-China, another European possession of great interest to the Japanese. His fondness for Aus-; tralian history has caused him to devote no fewer than nine chapters to the story of the Northern Territory, in which the Dutch played a notable part, and Bathurst Island. He discusses all sorts of subjects, even the mutiny on the Bounty, and puts on record many events that have escaped notice in the past because of the fondness of many educationists for European history to the partial exclusion of the story of their own country, and corrects many errors.

But it is in describing the background Of Oriental countries that Mr Clune does his best work. His motto is, “Try anything once,” and it leads him into places that would never be visited by the ordinary tourist. For instance, he has no hesitation in visiting a licensed opium den in Batavia and sampling the contents of a pipe, although he has to walk down a street called Thief Street, in the slums of the native quarter, at night. He is indefatigable in searching records of the past to complete the picture of the present, but he writes in a breezy and refreshing style that takes away the mustiness that many persons associate with events of 300 or 400 years ago. Naturally, to such a keen student of history and archaeology the mighty temples of Prambanan and Borobudur, in Java, and Angkor, in Indo-China are of absorbing interest and the descriptions of them are outstanding. The success of the Dutch as colonizers is emphasized by Mr Clune. He shows that the capacity for governing native races is not confined to the British. The Netherlands administrators are picked men of the best type, University educated and highly trained in their work. For the cause of empire, they, like their British counterparts, spend the best years of their lives away from their native country. The well-governed, contented and prosperous Netherlands East Indies are a monument to their conscientious and just administration.