TRAVEL CLUB

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 271, 16 November 1943, Page 6

TRAVEL CLUB

TALK ON BURMA An interesting evening wa spent by members of the Y.M.C.A.-Y.W.C.A. Travel Club and visitors when an address on Burma, prepared by FlyingOfficer J. G. Bradley, formerly an administrator of the High Court of Burma, and now in New Zealand, was read by the Rev. Nigel Williams. Mrs. C. R. White presided. The historical background was first dealt with, from the time when the ancestors of the Burman swept down the valley of the Irrawaddy during the dark ages of European history, the corrupt priesthood which terrorised the population, the Buddism which prevaded the whole of India, to the time when the British came; also the cruel way taxes were raised before the time of arrival of the British. Burma is still an agricultural country in spite of railroads, cinemas and motor buses. Ninety per cent of her people dwell in their villages and it is in these villages that true Burmese culture is to be found. The city dweller has become sophisticated by contact with the West. He has received a modern education from a State or mission school, and a further, if negative, education from the cheaper productions of Hollywood. Descriptions were given of villages, living conditions of the peasants, the rice fields, the arid tracks of lands and the more fertile land irrigated by a British-built canal. The high rice country will only produce a crop when the rains are good and this only happens about twice in five years. The peasants have to rely on peas, tobacco, lentils and chillies to produce a living for them. As irrigation works are extended throughout Burma, the people will gradually leave these arid places for more fertile larfds. A colourful account was given of a visit to the home of a headman in the village of Tamadaw — a genuine relic of ancient, unsophisticated Burma —and the ceremony of receiving European guests. The headman (whose father was a leader of a band of Decoits and was one of the Bo’s mentioned by Kipling) is responsible for collecting the revenue of a dozen villages in his jurisdiction. The commissions from the collections and rice fields he owns brings in close on £2OO per annum. By Burmese standards he is wealthy. In a primitive agricultural community money is only required for finerclothing and imported goods, jewellery and luxuries. The rice fields, rivers, fowlyard and herbs of the forest provide him with food. Bamboo and timber from the forest provides furniture and building; the earth provides the clay for the cooking pots and from the cotton fields comes the coarser clothing. The harvesting of rice takes place in November and December. The stubble is burnt to fertilise the earth. The use of manure is unknown.

Burmese girls are careful of their complexious. Their natural colour is that of a russet apple and sunburn turns the complexion very dark. A bush grows in the forest, the bark of which, grounded fine, makes a fragrant face powder. Before going to work in the rice fields the girls daub their faces with this powder. At the age of 15 the lobes of a Burmese girl’s ears are pierced and this is a great day in her life and festivity marks the occasion. It means they have left childhood behind and are in the market for marriage. No Burmese child is named until three years old, when a local astrologer is called in to cast the child’s horoscope and then advises the most auspicious name. Like all people who live on agriculture, the villagers rise and go to bed with the sun. It is said that the cock crows so accurately at one, three and five in the morning, that a fisherman on the sea coast takes a cock with him to sea when he goes out at night to tell the time. Although to a great extent women wear the trousers in Burma, she has the art of never letting the man know that he is not the boss. This, especially so at meal times. The menfolk of the house are fed first. The women feed later in the kitchen at the back. Descriptions of Buddist edifices, monasteries, and their carvings, the significance in the forms of the tiered roofs, and the homes of the people, kept the audience deeply interested. No Burmese home of the better sort is complete without a chiming clock, and these are always among the first gifts presented to a monastery. The Burmese woman is excellent in business affairs. The retail business of the village is in her hands. She often manages her husband’s estate and sees to the selling of the rice crop or tobacco, and whatever it may be. She drives a shrewd bargain. One Burmese lady bought up a strip of land about ten miles long south of Mandalay for a song in 1887 r.nd the next year she sold it at a very comfortable profit to the Government for a railroad. Her dress is stereotyped by the limits of Burmese fashions, but she never wears the wrong colours, and can perform wonders with a few wild flowers in her hair. The Child Welfare Movement is not impressed with her capabilities as a mother. The average Burmese child is alternately spoilt or bullied, because the Burmese mother, like her husband, gives way too easily to bad temper. The Berman is easy going and is generous. Because of his generosity he is inclined to be thriftless, trusting that others will help him on a rainy day, as he has helped them. He Is musical and capable of brilliant poetry, and the delicacy of his carving shows the artist in him. In his middle and old age he allows the influence of his religion to soften and dignify him. In his youth he is yam and more than a little arrogant. It is worse, almost, than death to him to be humiliated in public, and when he is roused he is capable of sickening savagery. He is politically immature, possibly because real moral courage is a rarity. He can seldom aonreciate the necessity for principi. in statesmanship, and his political notions revolve almost exclusively round personalities. It is chiefly for this reason that the question of complete political emancipation for t * s rau .ght with difficulties. „ Mrs. White thanked the Rev. Nigel Williams lor reading the address, and a vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. Bradley for preparing it. Supper was served.