THROUGH JAVA

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 69, 18 September 1937, Page 13

THROUGH JAVA

AN EASTERN "PARIS"

INTENSE CULTIVATION

Some vivid impressions of the Dutch East Indies were gained by Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Duff, of Wellington, who returned by the Maetsuycker, which arrived in Wellington yesterday. Mr. and ! Mrs. Duff made the trip from Sydney I to Port Moresby, thence to Java, Singapore, and Saigon, returning via jßabaul, Port Vila, and Noumea. InJ eluded in the party were Messrs. E. Liddle, L. Phelps, and R. Roberts, all !of whom belong to the Wellington 'Bowling Club, of which Mr. Duff is a I member. "We were fortunate to be able to motor from Sourabaya to Batavia, and it was one of the most wonderful experiences of the trip," said Mrs. Duff. "Java is about the same size as the North Island, and it has a population .of about 46,000,000 people, of whom only 32,000 are white. Every inch of j the ground throughout Java is cultivated, even right up the mountain sides and alongside the railway lines. Tt seems that you cannot go a hundred yards without meeting scores of ] the inhabitants. The Javanese are most industrious, and every man, woman, and child seems to have some job to do. "Djokja. called the 'Paris' of Java, is a most interesting place, and the difference in the people is most noticeable. They are not so dark here, they live in better homes, and look happier and more prosperous." Mr. and Mrs. Duff were astonished at the extent of the tea plantations, it taking about four hours to motor through one plantation, travelling at! about 40 miles an hour. "The volcano is still smouldering at Rabaul, where the big eruption was recently," said Mrs. Duff, "and there are huge piles of pumice heaped where the people are cleaning up. The coconut trees are all dead as a result of the eruption. A strange phenomenon was that the Maetsuycker was moving through water covered with floating pumice, and when she was moored it appeared as if she were anchored on dry land."