ROMANTIC INDIA

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 12021, 26 December 1924, Page 3

ROMANTIC INDIA

WONDERS OF THE EAST

THU ADVENTUROUS CAREER OF COLONEL POTTINGER,

AN INTERESTING VISITOR. There arrived recently in Wellington from Australia an exceedingly interesting visitor, in the person of Colonel Eldred Pottinger, D. 5.0., F.R..G.5., whose travels and adventures in the mysterious lands : that lie east of Euez are as wonderful ! and as intriguing as -those of any hero i in the realms of fiction. There is no part of the East that he has not visited, and hardly a part concerning which he cannot tell some tale beyond the ordinary. The lure. of distant lands is in his blood, says Colonel Pottinger, who, in the tcourse of a conversation with a "Times” representative, gave a few particulars concerning his ancestry and his own experiences. The Pottingers are a well-known North of Ireland family, as typified by the Mount Pottinger district —one of the most thickly populated parts of Belfast. This property, he relates, Was mortgaged by one of his direct ancestors to raise money to help William of Orange when he landed in Ireland, and one of his proudest possessions to-day is a pair of silver candelabra that William presented as a thanks offering. In 1811 there was published "Travels in Sind and Baluchistan,” by Henry Pottinger, who 2iad joined the diplomatic service in Persia, and later went to China, where ho was England's first ambassador in that country, and was responsible for annexing Hongkong to the Empire. He was awarded a baronetcy, ana his son, Sir Frederick Pottinger, was head of the Nflw South Wales police in the 'sixties. MILITARY SERVICE IN ASIA. At the age of twelve, Colonel Pottinger stated, he was successful in a scholarship for mathematics at Chiltenham School, and from there went on to the military college at Woolwich. On being commissioned he went to India, and spent all his military service in Asia, with the exception of two periods in Africa. His desre for travel soon brought him in touch with the intelligence department, and in two years' time he started on hig first trip to Persia, covering most of the country between the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. EXCITING EXPERIENCES. Among other exciting experiences was a journey of 1000 miles made up the Yangtze River, from Shanghai, ana then overland to Burma. When the tribesmen started to attack his party he procured an escort of 50 Chinese, and after a period of a fortnight's training, they proved. excellent and reliable soldiers. During this time he was engaged in surveying operations to see if it wer possble to connect Chna with Burma by rail. By fighting his way through he completed the survey, and at tho same time, By appearing before the Chinese Governor in all his gold lace dress uniform, bluffed that dignitary into believing his to be a most important personage, and extracted a sum of ,£750 hard cash as an indemnity in which he had been insulted and molested. He was at this time offered J 510.000 by the Chinese Reform Party to undertake a plot to kidnap the late Empress Dowager of China. The negotiations eventually broke down because they could not come to terms as to whether she was to be landed at Shanghai or on board the steamer at Taku. WONDERFUL INDIAN EMPIRE.

Colonel Pottinger is travelling with the Lowell Thomas travelogue, India/' which represents a unique combination of spoken stories, moving and coloured pictures ai\d music, ho himself relating the story as the scenes unfold themselves. This film is a revelation of the Indian Empire, its vastness, its magnificent mystery, and is probably the greatest travel picture ever produced. olonel Pottinger takes his audience on a magic carpet as it were, and beginning with Cape Carmorn, in the extreme south, passes up the Travancore coast to Madura, on to Pondicherry and Madras, across to Goa and Bombay, then to Rajputana, Baluchistan, the ICyber Pass, into Afghanistan. This film, which has been shown all over the world, will be exhibited in Wellington early in January.