AUCKLANDERS SING PRAISES OF JAVA

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 221, 7 December 1927, Page 13

AUCKLANDERS SING PRAISES OF JAVA

LURE OF THE EAST GOOD HOTELS, HAPPY NATIVES One of the loveliest countries in I which to spend a holiday. That is how Dr. A. S. Brewis and • Mrs. Brewis describe Java. They returned to Auckland yesterday by the Marama after spend- i ing a holiday in Australia, Java and ; Singapore. Bath Dr. and Mrs. Brewis sing the paises of Java, the country of happy . natives and smiling people. Living, there is cheap, the hotels are beautiful and very clean, and the country j altogether lovely. Mrs. Brewis considers that the hotels in Java are some of the best in the world. New Zealanders may get a shock to find that the hot water supply is limited, she said, but one only needs to ask for it to get as much as one wants. In each of the hotels there are three or four young Dutchmen who speak English very well and they are there to supply information and to assist English-speaking visitors. It is pos- , sible to get suites of rooms to suit all purses and the Dutch proprietors j are most obliging. One of the best hotels at which Dr. and Mrs. Brewis stayed was the Villa Dolce at Garoet. An Australian woman was murdered there, and since then the proprietor has suffered a great loss of trade, through no fault of his own, and he is finding it difficult to get customers. Dr. Brewis says that natives are not spoiled in Java, as they are at Singapore, and they seem to be very happy under Dutch rule. Java is full of wonderful old ruins of palaces. One of them, owned by i a former sultan, is called the “Water Palace.” Here, in a secret room, one can still see the ston bed of the sultan with two smaller beds for his favouriite wives. Underneath the beds runs a stream of water which, the doctor agrees, would cool the room. The Auckland tourists did not ste the naval base at Singapore, though *t is possible for English visitors to get permission to go over the works. Spiked railings run round the area of the base, and giant oil-tanks have been erected there. One of the things which impressed them most in Java was the cheapness of the motor-car hire. They advise visitors to hire a car and a driver for j the day, as both are inexpensive when compared with New Zealand charges. Dr. and Mrs. Brewis travelled up the Queensland coast on their way to the East, calling, at Brisbane, Townsville and Thursda / Island,