JAVA

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 67, 16 September 1922, Page 19

JAVA

But Java doesn't worry over any sense of indignity. The Javanese are not that sort. Som» Western people, with a passion for hustle, have thought theni a lotus-eating race. To be sure their lives are palm and dreamy. With soma banana* to eat and some betel to chew they are supremely ha-ppy. Indeed, it is pofssiblo that somn Australians, tired of the fever and the [ret of business, might regard them with envy, if they took a. trip across just to see themy"n their natural setting. For they are*' friendly, kindly people, their manners, are gentlo, their movements graceful. •" Their speech has been, called "tho Italian of tho tropics,'" so soft is it, and musical. They are elaborate in their etiquette; t)iey are punctiliously courteous to' one another and to the stranger, they are swift to show reverence for rank or ago. As modern civilisation fs- .nowadays gr*dod, ■ Australia. wpulct probably be assigned to a lsvel eonfidarably higher than Java- But the-ra if to be (said for that civilisation, of which th« Javanese p««j»Je are) the expression.

The iron hand,was lifted, and now it resta lightly on Java. The Government ie part Dutch, part native. The island is divided into seventeen residents, each controlled N by a native prince,, cSlled a regent, .with" a. Dutch adviser, called a resident. Th« regent indulges in all the ceremonial of a king, but he cannot drivo beyond his own garden without his resident's permission. Tho prince is on the throne, th» resident is the power behind it, : ■ '■-

For the Dutchman's treatment of thg native had not been tender. The. main instrument of government had been tlie» j iron, hand, without any pretence of a velvet fflove.. In 1818, however, by,tßs deoisiori of the Congress of Vienna,' Eng- \ l»nd was required to surrender Jay*. «nd the native Boon; found the iron' hand* heavier than before. . THE "CULTURE SYSTEM." v Because, the island was in debt and?, free labour was found less lucrative than foroed, Holland sent, out » General Vanden Bosch to do what be pleased. It is to be hoped' Holland never dreamt wnafc the 1 general would be pleased to do. J Heestablished the "Culture System," with y which his n*me is now for ever ignobly associated in the island of Java. It corfsisted in compelling the natives to give up one-fifth of their land. On this land they had to cultivate specified crops, and work one day in seven for'this object. By degrees, more than one-fifth waa claimed; the natives were cruelly sweated. * They were prevented'from cultivatingrice, and, when famine came, haif a million natives died from hunger. Holland'^ conscience awakened to the iniquity, and ' | the general passed into execrated oblivion.

: Then, by. something like a fluke, EngItnd cam© into possession. It arose aut of the Napoleonic wars. Holland had'become united to France, and France was England's enemy. Java therefore, as a nominal Frenph colony, was seiz«d( England held it for seven years, and ■ it' may ,be modestly bub, quite truthfully olaimcd that, under Sir Stamford Raffles, the Eiirlieh Governor, many abuses were abolished, many reforms were effected. ."'

It has, long since been, pointed out that "the fault of the Dutch lies, in giving too little and asking,too much." In o#va. they proved the statement was no libel. They set up a Dutch East India Company pretty< much on the-lines of -the British East, Inoia"Company. ,'Thgy built factories at tho coiet and developed .trade with the interior. Bit 1 by bit they further inserted their foot. Sometime!, by military strength, 'sometimes by diplomatic strategy, they entrenched themselves cvor nioro securely until, in 1808, they had tho' v.-holo country under thoir control. :

"THE GARDEN OF THE EAST" INTERESTING AND UGLY - FEATURES DUTCH AND ENGLISH RULE

■Java is a place worth knowing ■■ and worth visiting (suys a writer in the '"Melbourne Ago"). Discounting fW the word painting tourists' love to -.indulge • in, it is significant to find people oi" .widely- different types describing Java as .','THe~C>a.rden of the East" aiid ."The; Pearl .of the East." It is part of the .Malay. ..archi- \

pelago, south of Borneo, aiidv separated from Sumatra by the Suniki Strait; ; 'i'ho sea runs strong through the strait, bus deepite tiie force of the current the width is diminishing. The two islands will onj day be joined, as some scientists deolaro they were before.. ' . Java is 62 miles long, and varies from 55 to 121 miles.in breadth. If you approach from the north you will 'find Uio coast low-lying,,.with mangrove' iswarnps and all manner of vegetation growing to the water's edg£; The south coast, js a striking contrast, it is roclty-and precipitous. J?pv that cause tWnorth. const 1.5 the trading coast. Batavia, the capital oi" Java, and indeed of all Dutch East" India, has an excellent harbour.

The interior of the country is mountainous, some peaks rising to 12,000 feet. Rivera are numerous; so are a voUWnoes, some of the latter being . quite • active, forits size Java is one of the moßt volcanic areas in the world.. Volcanic forces made it; volcanic forces frequently devastate it.

The latjtude is tropical. The mean annual temperature is .79; the warmest month is May, the coldest January, but there are only two degrees difference between them. -The daily ~ t difference... is , greater; it is 84 at noon a-nd"73'-at~srm-set.' There are no droughts and no longrains. Thunder storms are frequent, but the countless palm tiees are excellent conductors for the lightning. •: . . FERTILE, 'BUT NOf FULLY ■ .DEVELOPED; The area of Java is 48,000 square miles; ■many of these miles are- the n^pst fertile in the .world, yet barely half of thorn >re under cultivation. There-, is".a*.meagre quantity, of minerals^ but there arejgre&t quantities of ■' lignite, asphalti naphtha, and salt. There are extensive traCts^of forests consisting of oak,, coconut, rubber, and pine trees. The Javanese are of simple habit; they use little fuel; they build their houses of bamboo. Alt they want'is a small patch on .which" to-grow, their rice and .pasture ■their cattle. That secuved they havo no use for forests. But, as their, method of clearing, was. cdnflagra tion, the destruction they cau6_ed_was out of all propor'tioir to.'the"*'a3vant4ge they gainod. Their Dutch rulers have now complete control of the 'forests, and. .by judicious planting and growing -have made them into a source of substantial revenue.. • '-.:■ --.v.; .;_:;', : :..:.:\ :, Other acres ard under rice, coffee, rubber, indigo, tapiooa, and sugar. Java's sugar crop amounts to .something like 1,000,000 tons annually. Big game and small game abound. Tho rhinocerous and leopard are not difficult to find. The royal tiger of India is still sufficiently common to; make a tiger nunti a familiar incident in Java. Snipe shooting 13 a favourite sport,- but snakes are plentiful ami poisonous.' An average" of 150 Javanese dies from snake bite annually. ■.-■■:.',- -• -.;■ ■■■"., , A HUGE POPULATION. .There' are 30,000,000 natives^'aHd^the.y are' constantly increasing. Only 1,000500;) live-about the cities, .the other- ZSjOOajTO are herded in'-the vilia-gesr 1 Thotiglt"*"t seems to be the civilisation of the rabbit warren, the Javanese aro, without qtSStion, the most attractive race in '^ho East .Indies v ,,Theyv,»re peaceable.'-docilb, sober, and industrious, buL.it is gi-ave'ly doubtful whether they have received. the .consideration people, with.: £\lch x: qualities .deserve. . .;. ■"'."'■■ ;,-. '' -

„, Their political, history" is' marked by :some interesting and ugly.'feajwrgscj^i As if|r back jnto the cejituriee ESjt*asLga.ven "to iis Inow to peer,, the Hindus are~faund in possession. They-dominated thß.-island until-the 15th century. Then the Moslems had a turn. They were dislodged-by the Portuguese^ who,were, in turn,..supplanted by the Dutch. The latter not only held on to .what they had wrected' from the former, but they proceeded to encroacii further and further. ' 1