BACK FROM THE EAST.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 107, 9 May 1927, Page 9

BACK FROM THE EAST.

11 VudHSSffiPttife aJ HOLIDAY. CHINESE COMPETITION IN ;<£. RANGOON pBIT TO THE FAMOUS TAJ MAHAL. in the East, of Auckl|H|^, to-day on the Aorangi. Colon, Rangoon, anil Calcutta \cere among tfi«> "many yplaees they, visited. They retiirked and Brisbane.

"People in the Malay Stntea are very TTn Ranfoon 'wm in the "■ Chineee, notably jj| |||y ••. huadtafr £500,000 contract in coatMittaii With the construction of a new cantonmenFfor' the'

Tndian Government. Some -of * the '-more interesting sights in Rangoon, were the operations in the timber yards, where elephants were used to haul heavy loads, the modern methods employed in the big rice mills and the work of the natives in rbber plantations. The population of Rangoon was approximately 300,000, made up mostly df ; Burmese, Indians, and dfinese, with •' abogfc 6000 English comln Java this wasßJSpt •so ,i^p^ed. The j? "The most outali&ling memory iof my holiday is that of bur visit to Agra, where we saw the Taj Mahal, tip most beautiful building in the <w;orkL" Exquisitely built in white marble*, it-is a memorial to Muntaz Mahal (Queen of the Palace). An Italian refugee wai responsible for the erection of this wonderful architectural triumph. . The widower Of the Queen, Sha^t'Jehan,'w| of the Gxeat Mogul, Emperor of liuna before the time of M Cftni, was a man who loved;but one woman, and he desired that the- memorial should be the most wonderful ever built. He paid the Italian sculptor a handsome price for his labours, but when he learned that the craftsman thought it possible' i 4Ehat he might. even /.Here magnificent, fce had Lhe Court torturer out bo{h his eyes. The bodiep of Sfumtaz MaJatl and Shah by side beneath the whpr-dome that dominates the jmole and behind a marble hjee: work of exquisite beauty there burns a lamp of remeihbrance. Thousands M tourists visit Agra each year. f A Desert®§ City. '

Mr. Hutchinson spent three days looking through the remains of the deserted city of Fatehpur Sikri. The ruins are surrounded by a wall 71 . miles long and 80 feet high. It was built 400 years ago. Four hundred American tourists made a special trip by train from "Bombay, and took fir all the wonders within %' few hours.

"How about Singapore and the base?" Mr. Hutchinson was asked. He replied: "You don't hear much about it out there. They keep it very dark, but work is going on quietly all the time."

An innovation in methods of construction in concrete was seen by Mr. Hutchinson in Rangoon, where a British engineering firm was engaged in driving 2000 pileß for the new post office. The system followed was to sink a long tube, fill it with concrete, and withdraw it immediately. This was a special patent process of an expensive but effective nature, and Mr. Hutchinson anticipated that it would be a long time before the process would be seen in New Zealand.