Our Illustrations

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVI, Issue 13, 31 March 1906, Page 22

Our Illustrations

BURMA AND THE DURMANS. The photos that w« publish to-day of the Royal arrival in Rangoon give some idea of the chief city of Burma, one of the most interesting centres in the East. There is a joyousness about its cosmopolitan life, a brightness about the costumes to which India is a stranger. A correspondent of the •‘Times’’ of India gives an entertaining account of the Burman and his li.c, ami of how, unfortunately, his country is being exploited by the alien, while he is being steadily ousted and lowered in (he social scale.

Coming to Rangoon from the old cities Of India is like going from the whist room at the Athenaeum to Hurlingham. So much of India lives in the past, although here and there tlie dry bones of the centuries are assembling for a new life under the quickening touch of gold; "The Silken East” lives for the years to come. Then with the buoyant exuberance springing from present well-being and certain pending greatness mingles the joyous note the Burman sounds •wherever he goes. ‘‘The feast, t-he song, the revel here abounds.’’ So the all too brief days the Prince and Princess of Wales spent, in Burma will till some of the happiest pages written in the book cf Royal Progress. “East is East and the West is West,”, but the twain come nearer to meeting in Rangoon than in any other city in the world, the broad chessboard streets run right into the fields just as they did in the early days of the Western townships of America. Massive piles of business buildings alternate with Chinese huts and Indian hovels. But the purlieus hum with the rice mills and saw yards and oil refineries which bring into the provincial capital a swelling stream of wealth and wherever an old house is razed a commercial palace rises on its ruins. Nothing better illustrates the confidence nf the Rangoon citizens in their destiny than the scale on which they are building. Webs of scaffolding spun over four and ' five storey business blocks meet the eye on every hand. Land is enormously .valuable. The new hospital looks as if it were l»eing built for an Empire instead of a Province. 'l'he Port Commissioners are spending over a crore of rupees in wharfing the wayward bank of the Irrawaddy. They even hold out hopes of an electric car service in place of fdeam cars whose place is beside the Rocket in the Patent Museum. Touching, the hospital there is told a story much too gootl-to escape repetition. The contractor was a. long time getting his 1 material on the ground, and gentle hints being unavailing, a pointed remonstrance was made. Baek came this reply: “My contract specifies a particular form of frost -resisting pipes, and there has lieon some delay in getting them from England.” Shades of these strenuous days, when with perspiration oozing from every pore, and a silk suit a burden, you were informed that this •was the coolest weather Rangoon ever had!

And yet with all these evidences of wealth and-contentment, of the “Joie 4 de Vivre which distinguishes the Burman from all other Eastern peoples, of the really gladsome weleom? to'The Royal visitors, then* would obtrude a tinge of pessimism. The material prosperity of Burma must grow, for its foundations are built on a solid n>ck of agricultural and mineral wealth that has scarce begun to be quarried. Yes; but what is to he the place of the Burman in the new State? There is no room for him in Rangoon. British and German merchants. Madras Chetties, and Chinese brokers, eoohrs and hawk* erg, gharry-wallas and servants from Bengal. Madras, ami Goa make a fat living. The British India steamers plying between Calcutta and Madras and Rangoon carry’ hordes of miscellaneous Indians, coming to the land of promise, returning wfth the present equivalents of corn and oil and honey. The police is an alien police, and the army a foreign army. The Burman still numbers a third of the population, yet •O little place has he in the social and

economic life of the city that you'can live a quarter of a yeutury in it and barely come into contact with. him, or walk down the main street for a quarter of a mile anti not see half a dozen of his characteristic pink turbans. . If this applied only to Rangoon you could dismiss the subject with a sigh of regret al the scanty representation of sueh a cheerful and picturesque element in the population. Tempering the privileges of the Gateway City is the penalty of a heterogeneous and cosmopolitan population. The process of displacement, however, does not end there. Mandalay is commonly regarded, as a purely Burmese city. In Mandalay the Burman is jostled by Sikh policemen and Indian soldiers. In the great buzzing market he is elbowed aside by Chinese, Mussulman and Hindu traders. If he embarks on any enterprise you may be sure that the capital is found by a Madras Chetty or a Chinese moneylender, and that but a meagre share of the profit finds its way into Burmese cash boxes. Although the Burman is everywhere, it is not he who has the money. Of the rural districts it is more difficult to speak. If you inquire of those who know, however, you will invariably lie told the same tale. That despite the existence of great areas of unfilled land the Burman falls more deeply year by year into the toils of the Madras and Chinese money-lender. That where he is not actually expropriated by the foreigner, he is drifting into the position of the sowkar’s serf. Why the term "Native” is never applied to the children of the soil, but only to the alien immigrants! In truth, the virtues as well as the vices of the Burman make him an easy prey to the spoiler. There is a strong strain of the lotus eater, in his nature, for he hates sustained labour as much as My Lord the Elephant-, loves sport, the play and his ease; and invariably puts off till to-morrow what must not lie done to-day. Nothing better illustrates the cheerful irresponsibility of his character than the sequel to the fire that gutted the bazaar at Mandalay. The Commissioner, a kind sympathetic officer, at once raised a fund for the relief of the sufferers. When he went to distribute it in the evening he found that they had improvised a theatre on the. ashes of their homes, ami were wrapped in the enjoyment of a Pwe! His religion, enjoining the widest tolerance and the duties of hospitality, deprives him of the protection of caste and' the security of the watertight village community. “Brother, thou art welcome.” says the Burmese ryot to the wandering I rya. “Sit here at my board, and I will find you well-paid service in my fields. In a- few years the L'rva is the ryot ami the Burman his hind. The acquisition of merit by the building of pagodas, the gilding of images and the feeding of monks leads to the free spending rather than the hoarding of wealth. The merit of monastic life at tracts to the profitless seclusion of the “Yellow Robe” much of the manhood of the race. And so in small ways the alien is creeping in. If the process is allowed to go on unchecked, what will be the position of the Burman in his own country' half a een.turv hence?

He is steadily being superseded not by a strong, manly, homogeneous race, but by the sweepings of Calcutta. Madras, and Canton? Well might the Burman sigh for the bad old days. Thebaw made his Palace at Mandalay a hell of murder; the.city was built of bamboo and straw so that it might be burnt out if the populace proved fractious; not a soul willingly followed the deposed king into exile. But there was room and a future in Burma for the Burmans. Can we say the same now, after twenty years of British rule? It also indueed a pang of regret to note the decadence of Burmese art. The modern monstrosities in tin and tinsel, looking-glass and khaki, whieh are the latest additions to the tangle of shrines surrounding the Shwe Dagon Pagoda, are an outrage in comparison with the perfect symmetry and simplicity of the central shaft. How is it that the people who could design the one. who could evolve and retain their charming national costume, have become so utterly blind to all form and line, to all sense of colour and proportion? Even the aational dress is suffering. The women are giving up their dainty pinks for dull monochromes, their parasols for Brummagem umbrellas. Short is the transition from umbrellas to French shoes and stays.

s KKW,ZEALAMD INTERNA- , TIONAL EXHIBITION.

The main building is in eourse of erection, ami it measures 850 x 220 feet, and it contains a" large dome and two towers in the centre. The cost of erect- ; ing this building is £33.000. Adjoining - the main building, and extending beyond it on the same frontage, is a Machinery Hall, measuring 3 Ki x 305. feet. The contract for the erection of this building has been let for the sum of £9500. The Concert Hall is in eourse of erection. and it is costing £5300. It will be capable of seating 1(>00 people, and has been let for a great variety of entertainment purposes during the progress of the Exhibition. A fireproof Art Gal- ' lery, built of brick, is practically completed. It provides lineal feet of wall space to the extent of _ 1400 feet. The High Commissioner for New Zealand, assisted by the London Board, has arranged for a very large number of two classes of pictures, namely. LOANS OF CELEBRATED PICTURES from well-known collections, and also pictures from first-class artists, on which will be placed a price. These will be offered for sale, and should they fail to sell will lie returned to the artists w’no were good enough to lend them on these terms. Australian and New Zealand Art Societies are each allotted a certain extent of space, which will be available for the showing of pictures by colonial artists. A railway siding has been laid down, which runs right into the centre of the Exhibition grounds. This will be a great convenience in the handling of exhibits, as by the means of this siding exhibits can be transported direct from the ship's slings at Lyttelton and delivered within the Exhibition grounds. A SPORTS GROUND is being laid out whieh measures something like five acres, and whieh will be lit up with electric light. It will be available for all manner of athletic sports, axemen's carnival, military sports, fire brigade demonstrations, and other attractions of a similar nature, to provide whieh arrangements are being made by the Exhibition authorities. Aery complete arrangements are being made for a number of up-to-date and SCIENTIFIC SIDESHOWS, none of which have hitherto been introduced into the colony. These include a water chute, toboggan slide, helter skelter, katzenjammer castle, fun factory. maze, and others of a similar nature. The water chute is expected to be a great attraction, by reason of the fact that within the Exhibition grounds there is a lake, whieh will be used for that purpose. A PNEUMATIC ELECTRIC ORGAN ' is being manufactured in London, and will'be erected in the Concert Hall. This will be the first organ of this particular type that has been erected in the colony. Arrangements will be made for a succession of Organ Recitals, and for this purpose organists of repute will be engaged from the principal -cities in New Zealand and the Commonwealth. The lighting of the Buildings and Grounds is l>eing done on a good scale, and will certainly be one of the features of the Exhibition. The eost of supplying the necessary light and electrical power to the buildings and grounds is going to be something like £BOOO. A very large Band Contest has been arranged in which it is expected that a number of Australian and certainly all the New Zealand bands will compete. Other extensive arrangements are being made for music, sufficient of whieh is being arranged to suit all requirements. THE EXHIBITION GROUNDS arc being laid out in -the form of gardens and lawns in a very attractive manner. In this respect the frontage -to the Exhibition Buildings, assisted by the banks of the River Avon, will have a very interesting and attractive appearance. The authorities of the Fijian and Cook Islands are making exhibits whieh will be of an interesting character. In both eases a number of natives are being imported with all the materials necessary to erect the dwellings and to •how to visitors the manner in whieh

these natives lire in their own commas These natives "are" also" bringing caneM* and catamarans,-and exhibitions of th* uses of these boats will be given •«- Victoria Lake.." - - * ’ A VERY EXTENSIVE MAORI , EXHIBIT. is being organised, and it will be one of the special features of the Exhibition, because it is generally recognised that this will be one of the last opportunities of making sueh a display. - - s < A Fernery is--being -provided, lOOfU square, and special steps are being taken to make a very fine representation of the ferns for whieh this colony is particularly noted. Provincial Courts are being arranged for, and it is expected that there will be considerable competition between the different districts in the colony in thia matter. These - Provincial Courts will consist of exhibits of products and raw material, and also of the manufactures which are carried on in the different provinces.- ■■■? A very extensive exhibit of MOTOR CARS will form a feature of the Exhibition, and to give the public the benefit of this opportunity of purchasing motor ears an arrangements has been made by which exhibitors of motor cars will be permitted to sell their exhibit by the payment of a small commission to the Exhibition authorities. This permission to sell will carry with it the right to deliver the exhibited motor car any time during the progress of the Exhibition, provided the space rendered vacant is filled up with another exhibit. THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT has applied for 20,000 square feet of space for the purpose of making an Imperial Government exhibit. New South Wales has applied for 5000. Canada 10,000 feet, South Australia 2000 feet. These applications are for Stat* exhibits, and are not in any way eom neeted with the sjtace required for general exhibits from -those countries. The Marine Department are undertaking the erection of an aquarium. This work will be entrusted to Mr Ayson, whose association with it is of ’sufficient guarantee that the aquarium will be properly equipped. Arrangements have been made with the well-known firm of Messrs. Pain and Co., of London, to give a series of DISPLAYS OF FIREWORKS. Two of these displays will be on a very large and comprehensive scale, and there will be some twelve or sixteen of lesser magnitude. Amongst the novel features in connection with (lie building of the Exhibition will be a Travelling Staircase. The right to erect this in conjunction with the Gallery has been let tq an English firm of reputation in connection with this manner of transport. ON NEW ZEA TANOS GREAT GLACIERS. In our special supplement this week will be found six lovely views taken on or near the two largest and most majestic glaciers of the Southern Alps—Tasman (which is on the east side) and Francis Joseph (whieh is on the west side). Admirable as these pictures of the Tourist Department are? they cannot give .the idea of majesty whieh is the keynote of this wonderful region. “Francis Joseph glacier, from Sentinel Roek.” is an imposing scene, and another typical Alpine view is “Minaret and de la Beebe Peaks.” There is'a wonderful fascination about alpine climbing. which cannot be appreciated by anyone who has not tried it. A recent writer, speaking about this wonderful region, says: “What a glorious panorama of glacier. iee-eroNned peaks, untrodden snow-fields! Rstnge after range, north, south, west. The great Tasman Glacier far below visible for almost its complete 18miles. What a magnificent, stately sweep it presents, its graceful curves the very poetry of form! From this height bathing mazes of erevssse resolve themselves into regular semi-cir-cular ploughings. Chaotic ice-falls, yesterday so tiresome, now assume du* proportion as mere ripples in the gigantic ice-stream, Darwin. Prinz Rudolf Haast, Hochstetler, Ball, -.nd counties*

tither gl»ciers,each swelling the great frtaeri cataract, the largest tributaries temporarily deflecting the main stream with curious ripplings. In this crystalline atmosphere distance is most deceptive. few things more difficult to attain than a dne sense of proportion. :That point just across the Mueller Glaeier, temptingly.. inviting an after-dinner saunter, takes at least a coiinle of hours’ fiard walking. That silver thread far la-low, glistening amongst the dull morainic. debris, is an impassable river. Those tiusel threads gleaming down the ranges compel cureful negotiation on closer acquaintance, as they dash impetuously down, their boulder-strewn courses. Joyously leaping and dashing in their new-born strength, wildly de lighting in their relca'e from ’glacier prison, how little they dream of the gloomy disappearance so close at hand-’ With what sullen murmnrings they disappear into dark ie* tunnels beneath the main glaeier, reappearing miles, below at the terminal fiwte with - geyser-like spoutings, where their real race seaward begins. How diflicult to realise those nigged. .coririce-.lippcd peaks of Sefton are a mile and a-half vertically above the Hermitage! That Aorangi -towers mere than.two miles above us! But when yon have spent laborious hours climbing Mount Ollivier to view -tha first, or. Ball Busi to.view the kilter. and stilt find each the better part of a mile overhead, some faint idea of • their magnitude begins to be appreciated. So that, whilst distance is need?! to correctly gauge relative heights, and Mount Cook only stands pr.v-eminent—-like Joseph's- sheaf—-when viewed from 50 miles away, aUitude and propinquity are equally necessary to a due., imcier- • standing, of magnitude and detail. Mountains must be viewed.from mountains — ..from below, their perspective is distorted and bulk dwarfed.

descending the Tas::i\aii Glacier in the dim hour preceding dawn, one is iih- ' pressed with the incalculable force its silently moving mass must exert. To me. this 18 miles by two. with a depth .of anything from 500 to 1000 ft, seemed the most prodigious engine’of beneficent destruction imag’nalJle. quietly revolving into, their constituent- elements the castoff debris of the mountains, and on tlici largest 'scale fulfilfiiig "tTat pessimistic note, “That He who wrought me into shape, should stamp, me Lac.'; to common earth again!" Into the silent darkness anon there come rosy ib.ish.es on the highest, peaks—harbinger of dawn, vennissance of after-glow. Avalanches sound the reveille of aiiothpr day, with deep basso profnndo saluting sunrise. Ha<l Mendelsohn been there he would have used them ac majestic opening elic-rds-of a Tasman Symphony. Thin ice breaking all around with-a musical snap —s areata' harmonica. Tiny runnels begiii journey ing with-a fluty clearness, rippling cadenzas of meHow sweetness. New crevasses burst, with sharp report, is clash c.f cymbals in a pianissimo pas•agy. Up each moulin come querulous, reedy notes, very legato. Beneath al! . deep diapason sustaining, harmonising hie collective murmurings of gathering voters. Seen mi mass, glacier ice invokes airprise or woniVr. At times so black tiled, with sand or coveied with moraine as to excite scepticism. Once or twice in my limited experience involuntary bjeaks through ■ fragile snow-bridges have revealed most marvellous valleys of jewels. fairy Tec 'palaces. WaitOmb stalactites and stalagmites done in purest crystal. fla.sTii.ig .with diamond brightness in their high lights, unutterable depths of amethyst in their shadows. The fascination, of climbing 1 am quite’unable to explain.. I ani-content that4t~is.so.-Not <avly content, but looking forward hopi’fa'iv. Io future opportunities. Those wl o aie-cciptent to follow the' comparatively easy’roiTte tip the Tasman Glacier. for exaniole, are rewarded with won’lerful Alpine scenery: blit how much they miss who forego the ascent to the lower ' slopes elf Mount t'Kudlcigh. whence the* Mount ;Cook group—Aorangi. Silberliorn. Tasman. Haast. Haidinger seepi like* a mighty girdle,' Hochstetter’ .Falls’ a jeyelled clasp, . IJaa-'t’ Glacier a' gem studded buckle.’’ ~