Pueblo chieftain., 1922-01-15
A. .M'CLELLAND
WRITES OF A
SEA VOYAGE
Visits Batavia, Singapore
and Other Points in the
East Indies
BY ANDREW McCLELLAND

BY ANDREW McCLELLAND
august p in Batavia was ono OF
those Turkish bath mornings when the
steam was turned on carry and was
hurrleo TO the station to get a Dutch
steamer sailing at a. m. sharp and
you must see the doctor first, Sir"
whose office proved to be Il long way
from the ship. 1 was on board with q
margin of fifteen minutes and she
sailed promptly at las p. m. But this
Is land OF "nanti' wait and tho
they say pigi. pigi. pigi to coolies and
workers under them no Dutchman or
Dutch company ever pigis (hurrys).
iho . >. Van Rees was routed via the
island where the best tin mines of
the Holland Crown are located and
without her tin mines Her Majesty
would be sorely distressed for cash.
she could never wiring it from tho
peasants. We loaded tin for seven
hours and tho under a broiling sun
ana In the Steamy suffocatinR air OF
the barges and steamers those brown
men in relays worked like fighting fire
ana came from below with perspiratio
running in streams and are paid at the
rate or one culden a day and tho
Dutcnman believes destruction Just
ahead for that is three and 4 third
times what they used to nav. But
nave not heard of any of the collie.
buying Ford for 2,4OO culden to 20 70
tnelr work In. Then we stopped again
AZ one OF the little islands of tho Rio
ufo group to put ashore some of tho
Dutch officials. amongst them "Tho
Poppy Chaser" as he called himself. i,
c. inspector of opium, tho traffic in
whlch is enormous and a monopoly out
OF which n few favored ones are max
Ing millions.
we arrived In Singapore early on the
stth and got ashore. after seeing the
u.oe.or. without customs or passport
inspection but must report at police
headquarters within twenty four hours
or be fined $1,000. L was not fined
but must tell all know OF myself and
forebears and when / knew Just when
was leaving must call again. Singa-
pore has now over 100000 people and
I think no other city in the Orient has
SO many races. tribes and tongues.
Chinese predominating. and they are
from every province OF that great en-
pirc He is the rich man. the merch-
ant. the boat-man. the gardner. tho
rickshaw-mau and to him I want to
pay tribute. There are more than 5000
of them in Singapore. Many OF them
are as fine speciments of physical man
as I've seen in the world and with his
rubber tired skeleton wheels he strikes
n long trot. about eight miles an hour.
no matter II tho sun be straight over
head and tho pavement hot to his baro
by tho dark skinned. slim. long haired
Indian. He sweeps tho street. he digs
the trenches, he carries the loads and
drives the bullock carts. he Is also ths
silk. tewelry and tade merchant and
as a merchant he has brought Indian
merchants ways with him. 1t Is not
often safe to offer him one-fourth OF
what he asks unless you want the ar
ticle. There arc four hotels where
Europeans stop. prices ranging from
IS to SIS per day. Raffles at the top
price is the best: hotel d Europe, Adel-
phi and Van Wjik. all good food. cleo
trio light and fans. They must have
fans lest we perish-' Mine was out
of commission for an hour and know.
Singapore business is in a bad way,
exports and imports being less than
half for same period OF last year. rub
bcr leading the list with less than one
fourth of last year. l have chart
before me showing the decline by years
since 1872 at which the price averaged
for the year 1877 straits cents per pound.
Tho prico today is 2Stz cents and few
buyers. Tin is another commodity
largely exported and is less than one
third of last year. Sugar tho more in
tons Is only about half in dollars, SO
with copra, copal, gutta percha, rattan
and sago flour. Imports show nearly
the same proportion of decline. I hear
more of rubber than anything else. 1t
costs 3ii2 cent TO produce on the aver
age. l have been thru rubber estate
and saw the men tapping and gather
ing. \ man is supposed to attend to
400 trees day beginning at $3.50 n. m.
to tap, finish by a. m. eat his show
aud then begin gathering. going exact
ly the same route. The process OF
tapping is carefully pairing the bark
in such n manner so the Juice will run
in into a metal spout under which
is u porcelain lined cup. He must tap.
adjust spout and cup and do about
three in a minute. To gather, he must
empty the cup into n pail and put it
back safely and carry the Juice to the
receiving place and must be very care
ful thnt no foreign substance. not even
water gets into 1t and for doing these
few things and doing them well the
Federated Rubber compsny's but yes
terday notified their thousands of EN-
ployees the price would be 40c per day
for Indians and soc for Cinnamon, or
approximately 11iac and 25i2c of u. s.
money and the workman must find
his own food. Shelter is furnished by
the company. And worse than all
there is not work for half OF them.
Many of the smaller and weaker es-
tates are broke and can do nothing so
tho weeds. grass and brush are taking
their own again. All the companys that
are worlsing are reducing production
and storing their product-hoping.
Nearly all the 4S9 miles along the rail-
way from Singapore to Penang Is rub
ber trees of all ages from II years old
TO this years planting for | saw a few
fields but a few months old and for