TRAVELS IN MALAYA.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 215, 11 September 1929, Page 13

TRAVELS IN MALAYA.

5000 MILES MOTOR TOUR.

AUCKLANDER'S EXPERIENCE

LITTLE TROUBLE ENCOUNTERED.

Shipping his own car from Auckland, Captain G. Humphrey Davies travelled 5000 miles through the Federated Malay States, and the only trouble he had on his extensive excursion was two punctures. He was accompanied by his wife, and the pair returned to Auckland yesterday by the Makura from Sydney. "We are glad to be back in Auckland," said Mrs. Davies, as she waved to friends from the deck of the Makura this morning. "There's no place like New Zealand."

Captain and Mrs. Davies have been absent from the Dominion since April last. Arriving at Singapore they toured the Federated Malay States for a month, and in the course of their travels touched at Sumatra and Java. Captain Davies said that the last time he visited the Malay States, twenty years ago, he was attacked by "black water fever," but to-day, owing to great concrete drainage schemes, kerosening and oiling, the country hardly knew what malaria was.

"The roads were wonderfully good," he replied when asked how he found the highways and byways on his travels. "They were especially good in the Malay States. There is a great deal of tar macadam used for road formation, while in the cities I came across concrete roads. Hotel accommodation is very good and the service is excellent." Unlike an Aucklander who returned from the East by the Ulimaroa last week, Captain Davies did not see any reflection of the Russo-Chinese war in the Federated Malay States. In Batavia, Communistic trouble was experienced in 1926, he said, but the indications were that it had been handled very well.

Captain Davies was full of praise for the Dutch line of steamers that traded in the East, and said he had heard that the company operating them was likely to extend its services to embrace New Zealand.