MALAYAN ADVENTURE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27026, 10 March 1949, Page 8

MALAYAN ADVENTURE

ESCAPE AND RETURN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE What to take if given only a few hours to evacuate a well-stocked home; what to do with the things one cared for but could not take; and how, after a space of years, to go back and start all over again—all these problems were expounded and solved by Madame Lomont, of Malaya, in an absorbing address to the Dunedin Travel Club yesterday morning. Malaya, 400 miles north of Singapore. and three miles from the nearest neighbour, was the scene of Madame Lomont’s adventures, for such they certainly were to her Dunedin audience. She described a country, green and beautiful, with high passes and deep ravines, where monkeys chattered. that had leafy rubber estates: and a brown or black jungle people, a never-ending source of delight to the white race, which comprised 2 per cent, of the population. This fact engendered a feeling of uneasiness especially with Japan’s greedy eyes fixed on Malaya. Here, then, arose the question of what to do with one’s valued possessions, and the answer naturally seemed to be to hide them, so Madame called in a trusted Chinese workman who excavated a large cavity under the house, completed the work with an > almost invisible trap-door, and covered all with a roomy cupboard which was in use for years. The hiding place was almost forgotten. Then came the order. “ You and your child must go south to-day.” Bombers had already appeared and Madame and her amah hastily prepared for the 400mile drive. Two suitcases were packed, one with food, the other with clothes, while valuable papers, a mattress for her five - year - old daughter, hurricane lamps, and other necessities were piled in the car Then, and only then, was the hiding place remembered, and crystal, silver, and her husband’s surveying instruments were carefully stowed away. “When I glanced back and saw our lovely house and garden looking so peaceful in the sunshine, it seemed incredible that we should be leaving it in such circumstances,” Madame Lomont said. "We were among the lucky ones, but as our ship slipped out of Singapore we noticed that a huge pall of smoke was spreading over the city.” . Over three years later, in 1945 she considered herself fortunate to be posted to a medical unit near Ipob in the district in which she had lived A visit to her old home was a sad experience. It was stripped even of the timber, and her hiding place was open to the skies. The next step was to try to find some of her belongings, for Madame Lomont felt certain that some of these would have been “ acquired by neighbouring natives. Therefore, she travelled around in a lorry making the tactful inquiry, “Have you been taking care of any of my possessions? For days her.efforts were unsuccessful, until, just as she was about to give up the search, a native woman produced a table, a desk, a bed, a carpet, the surveyor’s plans, and, best of all, a bundle of photographs! I knew you would come back, the woman said. A faithful houseboy produced a silver tea-service and some dinner plates, saved at the risk of his 11 Work in Malaya had begun ag ? ir \ tin mines and the rubber industry had come to life, and prospects gradually brightened, until a new danger appeared—terrorists, obviously organised from outside. Murders of white people were all too frequent, while attempts to disrupt industry and stop production were a common occurrence. White people were again allowed to carry arms, bands of light surrounded every isolated house, and Ml***”" 3 were empowered to shoot to kill.