HARD HIT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 69, 22 March 1934, Page 5

HARD HIT.

LOW PRICES IN JAVA

EAST INDIES SLUMP.

EFFICIENT DUTCH COLONIES.

The countries hit hardest by the depression are those in the Last Indies, according to Dr. F. A. Oetken, a German scientist, who recently visited them during a world tour. Both in British Malaya and Java the effects of low prices have been very serious, he told a reporter of the "Press" in Christchurch "In British Malaya all the tropical products have suffered considerably," he said, "and a certain amount of the territory formerly used to grow rubber is falling back into jungle. Singapore, on the whole, is doing fairly well, especially with shipping. "The Dutch East Indies are more concerned with the depression than most other countries because of the amount by which they have had to decrease sugar production. Some of this is due directly to the depression, and some due to the increased production of sugar." Sixty-five per cent of the sugar mills were idle and much of the sugar land had been turned back to rice. "This is a very heavy setback to these marvellous colonies, and it is very regrettable because the Dutch East Indies are really the best organised tropical colonies in ! the world. "The Dutch have developed a very efficient research system for tropical products, soil, etc. It is striking -"ow much more efficient are the rubber estates in Sumatra than in Malaya. That is well recognised out there. That Java is one of the most fertile and best cultivated areas in the world is due not only to the Dutch, Dr. Oetken said, but to the industry of the native population, and their love of farming. Dr. Oetken flew over Java on one of the very efficient and frequent services operated by the Dutch. The air traveller, he says, sees new beauty in the country, and he himself was particularly impressed by the flight over the Thousand Isles, near Batavia-an archipelago of coral islands made beautiful by the variety of their colours.