LIFE IN THE MALAY STATES.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18074, 12 January 1921, Page 2

LIFE IN THE MALAY STATES.

A NEW ZEALAND LADY’S IMPRESSIONS. Visiting Wanganui just now is a New Zealand lady, Miss White, who is the guest of the Rev. and Mrs Harries at St. Paul’s Manse, and who recently spent an extended holiday on a rubber plantation in the Malay States. Miss White was on a rubber planting estate some seventeen miles from Kuala Lumpur, a large and important inland town. Singapore, “The Gate of the East,” and the main port of the country, was reached after a voyage from Sydney, N.S.W., up the Northern Queensland coast to Darwin, and thence to the Malay States. From Singapore Kuala Lumpur was reached by rati.

The district was devoted almost entirely to the harvesting of rub her. Tin mining was also carried on to a considerable extent, while cocoanut planting and tea-planting were industries of minor importance. The rubber trees, planted in orderly rows, occupied all the country cleared of its original jungle, of which a good amount still remained. The rubber trees were about thirty feet in average height, and somewhat after the style of the common gum tree. AU the manual labour was done by coolies, imported Indians predominating over the Malays, with Chinese, who were much the best workers, in responsible positions as overseers. The trees were “b,led” on one side for six months, then on the other side for six months, and the fluid, “latex,” was collected in tin bowls at the foot of grooves in the trunk. It was then collected and taken to the factory, where it underwent various processes, including treatment with acetic acid and water, emerging as a strip of glutinous substance, the product of a tnpuld. After this the strips were passed through three rollers of varying grades, and then smoked and packed for export. All these processes were carried out on the estate.

The clearing of the jungle to make room for the estates was done in the same way as the New Zealand forest is cleared. The vegetation was felled, allowed to dry, and then fired at numerous points by Malay coolies. Originally the coolies ran right through the fallen timber, applying torches here and there, but many cases of fatal burning proved that the method was too dangerous. After the burns the ash that remained was of great benefit to the growing rubber trees.

Miss White found the tropical heat distinctly trying, but said the effect of it was avoided by the custom of resting each day between 8 a.in. and 4 p.m. All active work, except on the part of the coolies, was suspended during the hottest part of the day. Otherwise the heat would have been unbearable. Miss White said she found the New Zealand climate, at the present, time, almost as bad, because there was no attempt to cease activities during the sweltering heat of mid-day. Tennis, played in the cool of the evening, wast almost the sole recreation on the country plantations in the Malay States. Motor driving was another form of amusement, and as the roads were excellent, made of some native road metal, it was generally comfortable driving. Church services in that part of the country were held only once a month, attendance then involving a motor trip totalling 25 miles. The roads in the Malay States were said to be the second best in the world, and Miss White thought they deserved the description. White men were generally able to stand the climate for three or four years, and then needed six months’ furlough. The Government provided “rest houses.” or boardinghouses, up in the hills, and these could be rented by families or parties, with a staff of servants to attend them. Government officials were given preference when applications were being considered. Malaria was the great drawback for a white man or woman. The cost of living was very high—much higher, in ajmost every way. than in New Zealand. Only condensed milk was procurable, and tinned meats were the only kind stocked by the stores. Frozen meat was brought from Australia. Fortunately -there was plenty of fruit, and poultry was also procurable. Miss White mentioned that supplies of duck eggs were brought inland from Penang, and' they frequently hatched on the way because of the intense heat. Almost everyone in the Malay States owned a motor vehicle of some sort, and motor cars were very numerous. Each estate had its owp “canteen” or shops, and also its own hospital. Life in the larger towns was typically Eastern in its gaiety. Despite the fact that the country was picturesque in the extreme, Miss White said that she found the climate too enervating and trying to wish to extend her stav of seven months.