The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1950-04-20

lam Dowell, all of Durant.
gram sent posthaste fortunately
stopped the shipment in time
Back at the Raffles Hotel
winch was named for Sir STAN
ford Raffles who founded Singa-
pore IN 1919, the outstanding i'm
preston is one of spaciousness.
The rooms are huge, three times
as large as the Peabody. and each
has an adjoining sitting room
me bathroom is also large, two
or three times as large as in most
American hotels, and is stuck to
one side of the room having been
added years later after the hotel
had been built.
The ceilings are twenty 10
twenty five feet high which helps
considerably for the climate of
singapore is very hot and humid
Ceiling fans are in every room
and the beds are the hardest I'VE
ever slept on. Everything is SPOT
lessly clean and the mosquito net
ting which encircles every bed
IS drawn at night when the hotel
maid turns down the bed.
Durig the war many wives of
the military were puzzled to
get letters from their husbands
saying the Dutch wife" thew
slept with at Singapore was very
unsatisfactory. This Dutch wife"
Is nothing more than n kind of
bolster on double beds put there
to absorb perspiration.
Singapore is the cultural CEN
ter for this whole area and there
are five daily newspapers pub
lished there in English, from four
to IL regular size pages each
day. The Straits Times which
boasts OF being "Malaya's leading
newspaper" and established in
ia45 also puts out annually an
ambitious pictorial magazine in
color which is beautifully done.
Depicted therein are scenes in
color of outstanding events of
the year, such as installing a new
ruler in one of the provinces,
typical scenes throughout Malaga
OF mangificient scenery and color
full native costumes and cere-
monies.
In addition to the English
newspapers there are also pub
lished in Singapore four daily
newspapers in Chinese, Two in
Tamil and one in Malay. There
are two radio stations, the Bri-
fish Far Eastern Broadcasting
Service which relays BIC pre-
grams and Radio Malaga run by
the Government Department of
Broadcasting.
1t seems the name "Raffles" do
inmates everything here-for the
main commercial and shopping
district is contained in the square
known as 'Raffles Place" and
within few blocks are the banks
and the large business houses.
Raffles College and King Ed
ward, VII College of Medicine are
located at Singapore and they
form the nucleus Of the Univer-
sity of Malaga to be established
IN Johore Bahru.
One of the places most tourists
shop is in thieves alley" lust
off Raffles Place where Balineads
from the Dutch Eas. Indies vic
with porcelains from China for
the American dollar.
One of my pleasant hosts in Sim
gapore was Mr.. S. H. Peek whose
flourishing automobile business
keeps him on the 60 constantly
but he is never too busy to take
time off to show visitors the city
and its many attractions.
Mr.. Peek is a past president OF
the Singapore Rotary Club which
could be considered the most cos
mopolitan in the world. It was
organized twenty years ago by
rs leading business men of Sing
apore representing different races
BY l94l it had 100 members of "a
different nationalities. During the
Japanese occupation of Singa-
pore February Is. 1912, until
September S, l945) Rotary activi.
ties were suspended but were inn
mediately resumed after the IL
beration. Among other activities
the club entertains at Christmas
5000 children. Since the war il
has given a mobile dispensary tc
the government and constructed
the first tuberculosis clinic in tn,
Colony.
Next week I shall write on
Port Swettenham. Malaya's rub
her mort. and the 0atowov e