LURE OF INDIA.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 89, 15 April 1913, Page 9

LURE OF INDIA.

'____. THOS. COTTER'S TRAVELS. _____ COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE. ' TOMBS OF SURPASSING BEAUTY. After a sight-seeing tour among the mosques, tombs and .temples of India, Mr Thos. Cotter, K.C., has returned to Auckland feeling that it is good to be home again. He regards the trip as well worth the undertaking, but considers that for people accustomed to more temperate climates one holiday visit to those sultry regions is quite sufficient. "I am very -pleased to have seen some of the most interesting parts of India," Mr Cotter remarked to a "Star" representative after his return by the Macedonia on Saturday, "but, as in the case of my trip to Canton during a visit to the East -some time ago, wild horses would not drag mc back again." THE SCENIC SIDE. The party, which included Mrs and Miss Cotter, first proceeded to sunny Oeylon, visiting Kandy, the chief inland town, and making the popular trip up Nuwara Eliya, a mountain rising to a •hwght of 6,000 ft. "The scenery on the way up is magnificent" said Mr Cotter, "and 1 regard the trip as being one of the finest that a person can possibly make."' Bombay, the east coast port of cotton •manufacturing fame, «-as next visited, and- the. Aucklanders formed the opinion that, like their own city, it has a very pretty harbour. They thought the buildings moist magnificent, but the olimate very warm. r A milder, experience v.-as in store, however, for the trippers went to Mount Abu on their way across India and found the climate there very similar to that of New Zealand. Mount Abu is the site of the Dilw-.irra Temples, which contain sonrc of the .mo-it magnificent marble carvings imaginable. Leaving this elevated town with its historic and pretty surroundings. the party made the usual tourist trip via C-.nvnpore and Delhi (scenes of bloodshed in the great Indian Mutiny). At Delhi the visitors saw- the site of last year's Coronation Durbar, and also observed the preparations in progress for the purpose of giving effect to the. King-Emperor's decision to alter the capital from Calcutta to the firet-n-tmed..city. A TOMB OF BEAUTY. After Delhi came Agra, and with it the main objective of the visit to India—an inspection of the Ta j''Mahal, the wonderful building of white marble which the great ■ Emperor Shah Jnlian erected hundreds of years ago as a tomb for himself and his wife. "Mr. Cotter waxed enthusiastic in expressing his admiration for this magnificent specimen of Oriental architecture. "We found." he .said, "that all the descriptions and all the views that we had seen did not exceed or even equal the wonderful beauty of the original. Whatever might be said of the discomforts of-the overland trip—for the heat, and dust., and inconveniences of railway travel in India are great—the view of the Taj made ample recompense." Mr. Cotter drew a graphic word picture of the mammoth marble domes, which are reflected in the. crystal water.'- surrounding the approaches, of the artistic carvings I which adorn the interior, and of the nipstuwonderful creations in pure white niirhle-on:every hand. In fact, he said, it quite -passed his comprehension how such a structure could have been raised by the people nf India. "Yes," added Mr. Cotter, -'tlie Taj Mahal is what we went to see. and we have been charmed by ijeeing it." Needless to state, this is not one of the place.: which Mr. Cotter refuses to be dragged back to. Only, if he went again, it would be by a more ;direct route. SUBSEQUENT TRIPPINGS. Benares, on the ("lunges, . the most sacred city of the Brahmans, was the next point in the tour: and tlie sights encountered were very unique. These included the washing of visiting pilgrims in the sacred Manges waters. • The New Zealniiilera were struck with the utter disregard for sanitary- conditions which prevailed among the natives, and. in fact, they wercshbeked by some gruesome spectacle'-. It was not pleasant, for instance, to see iherh drinking the muddy Ganges waters, in which they washed, and down which dead bodies frequently floated. However, in India one' must pass through the unpleasant Very often to reach the pleasant. A stay in Calcutta proved pleasant, this being a very fine city. But even here surprising phases of native life were encountered. On one of the wide city pavements Mr. Cotter saw a cart drawn across for the purpose of unloading some goods. ThVtvfo mules had been unharne&sod from the cart, by the ur.tive driver, and they were lying, on the footpath causing' a complete block to traffic. A few yards away a native with no more clothing than a loin cloth was lying full stretch across the pavement. Such was the lassitude of the natives, -and such were the difficulties confronting the civic authorities. •A trip wife made to Darjccrmg, the mountain pleasure rosort of the whites in Southern'lndia, and the visitors were delighted with the high mountain Scenery. Afterwards came Burma, and although the winter season was supposed to be prevailing, oppressive and ti-yhig weather was experienced. Compensations were found, however, in visitinz the Roral Lakea, a few miles out of : tlie town. ' They are the prettiest Mr. Cotter has ever seen. The Schwc Dagon Temple, was also found to be very fine. , " The tourists next took the road to Mandalav. and visited the Royal Palace. They found it vers- tawdry, and in no way equal to similar places m India. .From there they returned by the Trrawaddv River, spending three days on the trip. "Both at 'Mandalav and on the river the heat was intense, and between 10' a.m. and 4 p.m. it was almost unbearable. "The Irrawaddy River trip certainly does not equal that of the Wangatiui River." said Mr. m emphasis of his preference for New Zealand. - THE FINGER OF FATE. Questioned as to the loyalty of the (icoplc of India, Mr. Cotter said that it wa.s impossible for a tourist to judge. The natives were really a people apart. They had no ambition to move out of the'grooves in which they considered fate had placed them, and consequently were content to spend.their lives without thought for the present or p'rovidease for the future. Wages paid to native workers were ridiculously small. He. (Mr. Cotter) took a Hindu servant on his travels, and the remuneration was one and a-half rupees (two shillings) per day. A curious aspect of their ways is that a'though that." Hindu. was Mr. Cotters hired "servant, he would not har.aie any of his luggage. The duties 'of his post were to sec Chat other "Siii'ves did so. If a native was eni:f'.*7eii ,r to care for a horse, nothing would ■•ike hlai do some gardening to ftfi in

his .pare _a_, aad co with othar «cenpMions. Seven «r eight natives would, therefore, be required to undertake what one European servant "would'do. FINAL COMPARISONS; There is, however, one thing to xe-. mark," said Mr. Cotter. "It is that in both India and Ceylon, as well as Burma, we had apparently left behind all questions of arbitration courts aud strikes and wages boards, but immediately we returned to Australia —one of the countries where it is claimed all such troubles have been overcome—we found them in full swing." Mr. Cotter described how the Mongolia was held up at Port Adelaide by a strike of wharf lumpers, and also spoke of the far-from-pleasant experience of arriving in Sydney just as the ferry strike broke out on Good Friday. This comparison, he thought, was not favourable to the lands of strikes.