"DILLI DALLY"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 18, 22 January 1942, Page 5

"DILLI DALLY"

PORTUGUESE TIMOR

DILAPIDATED BUILDINGS SYDNEY, Jan. 10. When Dilll and Fortovnnc Timor jumped into the news m the terminal of m. trifflcies* Japanese airline, Sydney's Daily Telerraph sent up a man to dally a while. He saw and heard:— Picturesque township on a 10-mile flat walled in by high mountains. Stone public buildings with spacious verandahs all over the place, all dilapidated and sadly in need of a coat of whitewash. Fishermen emptying their catch m the middle of the main street and spreading their nets in the sun. Tiny pony carts as public transport; very few private cars. The Portuguese have five times as many civil administrators as the Dutch at the other end of the island and their methods date back about 150 years.

Uncompleted public works everywhere, including a new hospital and a new palace for the Governor. Only ones proceeding are those where natives are working off their tax arrears.

Bridges washed away in the last rainy season have not yet been replaced.

Sewerage, but water supply weak. Electric lighting system spasmodic so everyone carries a stock of candles and kerosene.

Aerodrome ringed with high trees. Huge open drains cut its surface.

Timor is still a penal settlement and "deportados" must raise their hats to their countrymen. Portuguese residents have their family crests or initials embroidered on their shirts, play bridge and tennis.

Natives must be off the streets by 8.30 curfew.

Native punishment is the "palmatory"—lashes on the palm with fine sharp thongs at the end of a bamboo cane.

Portuguese number 200. Japanese 15 (including consular staff), Chinese 5000 (they run, most of the shops) and natives 500.000.

Dilli will defend her neutrality with all she has—four machine-gun's (1890 Winchesters), two naval guns which were first used in the Napoleonic wars and an army of 500 cavalry and infantry mostly natives. The only Japanese capital in Dilli is £25,000 invested in a company which has one Japanese and two Portuguese directors — representing 300 out of 750 shares.

Planes fly weekly between Dilli and Koepang and Qantas flying boats call fortnightly. Holland and Portugal signed a treaty in 1904 agreeing not to allow a third party to establish a coaling or naval station in the Timor archipelago. They also agreed to give each other first option of. purchase if either desired to sell possessions. The pro-Axis element was more open after Japan sent her consul there.