IMPRESSIONS OF THE FAR EAST

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 47, 5 June 1931, Page 1

IMPRESSIONS OF THE FAR EAST

-a talk given from 2YA recently

by Mr.

Will

Lawson

the much-

travelled New Zealand poet and writer, who, during the past few years, has been resident in Sydney. At the present time he is touring New Zealand on holiday, and is delivering from the YA stations a series of talks on his travels.

, ; T° the people of New Zealand and AusAd tralia the term, "The Far East," is a misnomer, for these picturesque and exceedingly busy places are closer to us than any other distinct world centre. What is known as the Far East is, in fact, more likely to materially influence the destinies of New Zealand and Australia than any other portion of the globe. I do not intend, however, to discuss these matters to-night. It is of the picturesque, human, social and domestic side of the East that I will speak, endeavouring to convey to you the impressions received in a four months’ visit to the Philippines and Hong-Kong. The New Zealander who has not yet visited Australia, has the added interest of the cities of Sydney and Brisbane, and the north Queensland ports of Townsville and Cairns, which are called at en route, and opportunities offered for short trips inland. It must be remembered that the steamer is ten days on the Australian coast, on her way from Sydney to Thursday Island, and this never fails to impress strangers with the great size of Australia and also its amptiness. . \, From Townsville the voyage lies inside the Great Barrier Reef, which is a vast coral growth, stretching for more than 1000 miles along the coast at varying distances from the shore. This coral barrier against the storms of the Pacific ensures a smooth passage which continues all the way to Manila, for, after leaving Thursday Island, at the north end of Cape York, the way goes among islands over glass seas. Though the Great Barrier Reef is so large, little can be actually seen of it except palm-studded atolls, such as Low Island, where scientists have established a base to study the marine life of the reef; but beyond Cairns, from time to time, the steamer people will see luggers manned by dark-skinned men, who are dressed in gaudy-coloured shirts

or sarongs. They are fishing for Beche-de-mer or trochus shell. ' Thursday. Island is.one of the Prince of Wales group. Toward dawn on the third morning after leaviag Cairns, the winding approach to tits great pearling centre is reached. A Malay quarter-master is placed in the "chains," that little gallery on the deck overhanging the sea, from which he can heave the lead. With this ide to assist the navigation, the iner steams into the port and ties up at the wharf at Kennedy Town, the only settlement on the island. T-I., as it is called, is the social and commercial, centre for all of Torres Straits and the Gulf of Carpentaria. New Guinea is only 100 miles away, the Murray slands and Yam Island, with its aint king and his queens, and many other places can be reached by cutter, places where one sees life as nowhere else in the world, and there is sport for the hunter on the mainland ten miles away. The Torres Straits natives are different from the Aus-

tralian black and the New Guinea native, though so near to both. Thursday Island is outside the White Australia agree-ment-which means that no language tests are applied to Japanese, Malays, Javanese or other Eastern people who wish to live there. This is done because the pearling industry demands such men as divers. Though the industry has decreased greatly, there is still a big fleet of pearlers with head-

quarters at T.I. Among the native crews, there are two distinct factions, the "swimmers" who dive without a diving dress and the "divers" who use the dress and do the deep diving. While the swimmers fear the sharks, the divers fear only the giant gropers-similar. to the New Zealand hapuka-which haunt the. recesses of the reefs, and while really harmless have a ferocious appearance. With puffedout gills and gaping jaws they terrify the men, who signal for a quick haul-up. . , Wes Thursday Island fades astern, and the hills dip into the sea, there remains only the white lighthouse on Booby Island, 20 miles off-shore, to show where Australia is. When that goes, too, the liner is steaming on the Arafura Sea, bound for Manila, six days away. On this run no land belonging to Britain will be seen, for the Dutch East Indies

on the one hand the Philippines on the other, constitute the main areas of land. At one time England possessed the East Indies, but they were handed back to Holland in exchange for Ceylon, where the East India Company had extensive interests. Early on the third day out, a ‘solitary cone of rock, rising in the sea ahead, attracts the eye. This is Mano or Bird Island, on which dwell immence numbers of sea fowl. As the liner skirts past the island the whistle is blown, and the birds rise in clouds, circling and screaming. Through Minipa Strait into the Banda Sea, thence to the Serang Sea atid Molucca Passage, all among green islands, the course leads to Basilan Strait, between Santa Cruz and Coco. : The latter, a small island, lies on the right, with high green ridges all cultivated, coconut palms streaming down to golden beaches and natives in the nude running about in their excitement at seeing the steamer. These people are Moros who (Concluded on page 2.)

Impressions of the Far East |

‘{Continned from page 1) were the original inhabitants of the Philippines and are still living the simple lives .of their people, right alongside the highway of the ships. White-sailed native catamarans and bancas-the Filipino native boatsare seen ahead, where wonderful groves of coconut palms lean down to the water which is the main sea road to Manila, passing the doors of Zamboanga, a few miles along the coast. Here the prison of San Ramon is situated, where a benign American Government attempts the reform of less vicious criminals. This is 500 miles ‘from Manila, From here the liner will pass by magic moonlit seas that skirt fairy lands and reach Manila at dawn. HE lifting of the morning mists on *" Manila Bay was like the raising of a curtain, through which the sounds of a great city had been coming fitfully. ‘After the smart white launches of the Customs, Immigration, Postal and port medical officers, had come alongside, and their smiling Filipino occupants had attended to the ship and her passengers, one began to realise how fast the Hast is developing. All but the pilot were Filipinos, and this strikes one everywhere in Manila, even the executive officials of the railways are Wilipinos. The Americans exercise a quiet supervision only, otherwise the Philippines are working out their own destiny, and the people hope some day to be in full charge of their country. To-day there are three cities at Wanila. First, there is the old walled city, backed by the fort of Santiago, which was used to fight off the attacks of Chinese pirates during the 300 years of Spanish occupancy. The moat that once surrounded the walls is now filled in and made a golf course, the only one in the world, probably, that is in the very heart of a city. Here is now the American centre, including the Manila Hotel, Luneta Park, Dewey Avenue, the modern clubland, palatial as only Hastern clubs can be. Then further away, on the Pasig River, is the more or less modernised business part of Manila, with the Wscolta as the main businéss street, and trams and arramattas earrying Filipinos in their "housands to and fro, with only a few ‘Juropean faces, and many of them "Spanish, The police, the tram-men, ‘hopkeepers, all are Filipinos, and a ‘vive to the great central railway sta‘en, where modern American tracks -nd equipment are seen, will reveal the ight of the country people coming to ‘own, their worldly goods carried in «tring bags, jars, boxes, everything it seems except a bag or suitcase. But that will be found all through the East. The standard of currency in the Philippines is the peso, worth about two shillings, and the centavo is the one-hundredth part of the peso, with 10, 20 and 50 centavos notes and coins. The Filipinos are pleasure-loving people. They are fond of sweets and sweet food and drinks, and rarely touch intoxicants. Dancing, boxing and athletics are their recreations-and eock-fighting. Hvery man hag his pet rooster, which he carries with y

him when he visits his friends, in case a friendly wager might be offering. There are few theatres in the Far Bast. Clubs and cabarets provide the. night life. Dance halls are numerous in Manila. The best known is Santa Anna, two miles out from Luneta Park and pier, where the largest dance floor in the Hast is found, and about the best music, the Filipinos being excellent musicians. ‘The floor is divided into two, one third being for white people or half-castes of Spanish blood, and the other portion for the Filipinos and others who wish to go there. The ballerinas are Filipinos, and are expert dancers. It is the custom for the people from the liners to visit Santa Anna on the night the ship stays. at Manila on the way to China. Afier leaving the dance hall, they drive to Tom’s Dixie Kitchen, which is a grill room in the centre of the city, run by

an American negro-where breakfast is provided, and more dancing and entertainment. Relief from the summer heat of Manila is found at the mountain city of Bagiuo, 5000 feet above the. sea, where cool nights are assured in the hottest season. From there come all the green vegetables eaten by Huropearis in Manila. A night run in a Pullman, followed by a thrilling morning drive. into the mountains by car, bring one to this oasis where golf and other recreations can be enjoyed. In the hot months, Bagiuo becomes the officia! capital, the Governor and Parliament adjourning there. All the members of Parliament are Filipinos. In addition to this trip, there are drives to Cavite, Los Banos and Las Pinas. At Las Pinas, the 300-year-old church and its bamboo organ offer an example of the zeal and courage of the Spanish priests who built this fortress of a church and held it against native rebels and Chinese aggressors. Gun emplacements and loop-holes testify to the armed mission effort which they carried out and which has helped to civilise and make the Philippines what they are to-day. The University of Santo Tomas was founded by the priests more than 200 years ago. At Pagsanjan Rapids, another day’s outing, a thrill may be experienced by hiring a banca and. its boatmen, and shooting rapids. In all the country drives one sees the industry of the people in cultivation, using the massive carabao, or water buffalo, as the beast’ of burden. So quiet are these beasts that their drivers are usually very small boys. The country cart, which ig drawn by small Timor ponies, is called the ecarratello, or car for the

distance, while the city conveyance, similarly drawn, is the carmatta, or car of death, for-so bad were the roads before the Americans came, that people often suffered injury in these carts. Yet the conservative Filipino sticks to them on the score of cheapness, and to-day the taxi is only beginning to be. allowed a footing. A greater contrast than that between Manila and Hong-Kong, only 36 hours distant across the China Sea, could not be imagined. In Manila the Filipino works as little as possible manually. In Hong-Kong there is not a horse-drawn cart, and very few motor lorries, for the Chinese know that every horse deprives at least seven men of a task in hauling goods or passengers, and he will not have the horses. Untiring energy is the char acteristic of the Chinese. They love work, and they love gambling and en-

tertainment. Nobody knows just when they sleep, for they appear to be awake all night. Wntering Hong-Kong is a simple process compared with Manila. There are no medical or Customs inspections, no immigration restrictions. Hong-Kong has been a free port ever since it was founded 80 years ago, when, as an island much frequented by pirates, it was taken over by Great Britain "for all time." Kowloon, the new territory across-the harbour, has been leased for a long period of years, and no doubt it will remain under British control. Hong-Kong is briefly 4 beach, called the Praya, with a towering peak behind it, yet it has a population of 600,000, of whom about 15,000 are Huropeans. The crowded life on the harbour will fascinate the new arrival, but best of all is the view of the city at night when the waterfront, the hillsides and the peak are ablaze with lights, which, rising from water level to a height of 1835 feet, seem to merge with the stars. BPlectric trams traverse the city from end to end, but the chief shopping street, Queen’s Road, has no trams. In faet there is no room there for them, so congested is the traffie of pedestrians, rickshaws, and chairs, with Chinese gambling on the footpaths and a hurrying crowd everywhere. Much interest attaches to the rickshaws, which run on the level roads, and in the two-men chairs which carry passengers up the hills. They are cheap, the fare ranging from 10 cents upwards. A cable tram goes up to the top of the peak. The view from the top, seen from a point to which rick--shaws will carry, one, is very extensive, and shows the size of Hong-Kong port

and Kowloon, with Aberdeen boat harbour, which is safe from typhoons, on the opposite side of the island. The currency in Hong-Kong is on a silver standard, the dollar being usually worth The medley of humanity in the streets of Hong-Kong will never cease to interest, huge Sikh police along.:de Chinese constables, smart Chinese girls dressed in European fashion, but a. charming ones in native.costume, a stout merchant being pulled and pushed in his rickshaw by uniformed boys, coolie women chattering along with six bricks as a load in their tiny baskets which sway on a pole, a huge wagon being urged along by a dozen men, with one unfortunate at the pole to steer, the grunts of the rickshaw boys clearing a way, the jingling of silver by . the money-changers who swarm in Qu Road, Chinese carrying scraps at od in string bags, from the markets, ropeans striding along or hailing rick-shaw-it all makes an ever-changing kaleidoscope of life and colour. On the harbour launches and sampans ply for trade, carrying people to and from the ships which anchor in the bay, there. being no wharves except at Kowloon, where the new port is. And after -visiting all the scenic and other places of interest;.one leaves Hong-Kong with regret, as one would an completed play, though this play is one which will never.end, And from there the traveller goes on to Shanghai and China, and afterwards to Japan. For this voyage the Empress liners of Vancouver connect with the Australian liners, which are often referred to as "The Little Empresses" so like are they to the big ships. Of Shanghai and Japan I wit" speak on another occasion. ;

Next Week ‘Special Exhibition. Number to link up with the Wellington Radio Show Town Hall, June 10-13 Special Articles