DEPRESSION IN JAVA

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21118, 20 March 1934, Page 10

DEPRESSION IN JAVA

♦ COMPETITION FROM JAPAN I>!'lt II IvKSIHKNT'S VIEWS | j I-'ur tin.' *irsi tmu' e :t was ' settled by '.ln: Dutch 400 years ' i. va i: going through a de- | p'n st.iuii. and' it is a depression which us yet shows none of the | hopeful .•d?:ns "1 lifting that de- ! jo ut!:« - r ports of the j world are showing. It is a depres- j sion caused largely by the compe- i tition in all brandies of its corn- : lneree by Japanese, who have made • a very determined bid lor the trade j of the Dutch East Indies. j Mi' L. Grolleman. of The Hague, Holland, who with his wife is re- I turning to the land of his birth alter 12 years spent at Sourabaya, described present conditions to a reporter yesterday. The Japanese, he said, were causing the white population of the islands a great deal of worry, and through their price cutting, had already captured a great deal of trade. As an instance. Mr Grolleman quoted the iodine industry. In every other part of the world except Java, iodine must be extracted from seaweed. but in Java it can be extracted from the earth in much the > same way as oil is mined, a pro- i cess generally substantially cheaper. Through using cheap labour, however. the Japanese are able to undersell the Java product, although in Java labour is also cheap, and the cost of extraction less. Mr Grolleman was himself in the iodine industry, and spoke with considerable feeling on the threat to his particular interest.

Java is an almost, incredibly tortile island, and supports a population of H2.000.00t) natives and more than 100.000 whites. Its main industries are agricultural, and these of course have suffered with agriculture the world over, but the position has been very materially for the Dutch population by Japanese competition in internal markets. A flood of textiles from Japan has made Dutch, goods of the same description unsaleable, and more especially as the comfortable existence which nature allows the natives means that they do not need very much money. Mi' and Mrs Groilemun have i'oiiiul New Zealand much to their liking, and Jike so many visitors think il resembles England in much ol its lower hilly country. The people of New Zealand, too. thev think u-cmble those of England, because of their reserve.