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AMERICAN-EUROPEAN
YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
Manila pd "date unrecorded"
My dearest All,
Just come back from an excellent day in the
country visiting a sugar plantation in Lugan Province with a German I have
met here.
On Thursday midnight I sail towards the Equator
to the Dutch East Indies.
Thurs
the Philippines have been packed with interesting material and I have been
most busy getting dozens and dozens of viewpoints dashing from one leading
politician to the mayor and then to a judge and then one of the founder s of
the Constitution.
The reason why the Philippines are so
interesting now is because Roosevelt has granted the independence.
They will be s
Commonwealth for 10 years and then become a Republic upon which most people
expect here that Japan will come in.
Ifor Powell is very much respected here as a
leading authority on the Philippines. "He has the best library on the
Philippines outside America" said one American. Others say that he did
wonderfully thorough work here and is one of the world’s leading experts.
You will be puzzled by my change of route. I
decided to go through the Dutch East Indies, because they play an important
part in Japan’s expansion and will make some interesting articles. So today
I sail on a Dutch boat (the Dutch have a monopoly shipping along this line)
to Celebes, Macassar and on to Java via Bali to Surabaya and the on to
Batavia. Unfortunately the boat only stops a few minutes at Bali. I shall be
sailing from Batavia to Singapore and reaching Singapore about the end of
April( about 20th- 26th April). I am looking forward to having letters there
and all the news.
I have written 4 articles for the American
press and I am sending them off now . In 2 hours the boat is to sail. I
shall write the Guardian articles on the boat.
A friend of Ifor Powell has been most kind to
me. He is Mr Walter Robb and I have been staying at his home just outside
Manila. He is a journalist and has given me a box of cigars to give to Dada.
1 am afraid I shall have leave them on route, because it will he load to
carry about until Christmas and I’ll buy some cigars instead.
Its tea time now. I am writing in the American
Chamber of Commerce where Mr Robb works. Soon I shall have to sat "Good-bye
to Manila".
Don’t expect mail for a long time because I
shall be in far-off parts. So don’t be surprised if there is a long gap in
the letters. There are not many boats.
What do you think of these photos. Please would
you show them to Ifor Powell.
How is lanto?
More news on board when I have settled down
after dozens of interviews and notes
Cariad Cynesaf Gareth
I don’t mind the heat in the slightest.
Please write to Hong Kong do Dollar Line until
May 5 then Dollar Line Shanghai until May 15th , then do Britsh
Consulate .Peking via Siberia.
*****
Sunday April 7 1935 3o’clock
M.S Tgisadane
My dearest All,
This Dutch liner is going through the Straits
of Macassar and a couple of hours ago we crossed the Equator. I expected it
would be boiling hot, but there is a pleasant breeze. 1 don’t mind the
tropics a bit. The heat has no effect on me. The liner (10,000 tons) is a
fine one and I am enjoying being on her much more than being on the Dollar
Line where on the whole the company was dull .1 have found two good
companions, fine conversationalists with a good sense of humour. One is
French from Normandie about 34 and we pull each others legs all day
. The other is a laughing white
-haired Dutchman about 70. So we have jokes all the time and debates.
Have a look at the map and you will
see that we are travelling between Borneo and the Celebes. This morning
Borneo was very clear and last night I saw some British territory, an island
of the coast of British Borneo.
I have an excellent cabin with plenty of air
and cool. We are about 25 first class passengers ;and all the other
passengers (hundreds of them packed in other classes) are Chinese going to
Java There is no white man travelling in any class except first, but it is
expensive.
Tomorrow we shall be in Macular; Wednesday in
Bali . I shall love to se
Bali, but it is terribly expensive. One has to stay 4 days because there are
not many boats and the stay costs £30!! It is on account of the Dutch money
and lack of competition. Moreover a Cambridge man on board Mr Fletcher who
was at Caius and whom I recognised when I saw him has invited me to go and
stay on his rubber plantation in Java.
There is a good swimming pool on board which is
most refreshing before dinner.
The coast of Borneo has now completely
disappeared, but we can see the Celebes. The sea is beautifully smooth.
Philippines
I did not write fully on the Philippines and about the kindness of my host,
Mr Walter Robb. By the way I showed Mr Robb some of my photos and when he
saw on of Auntie Winnie with lanto he said;
"Is that your sister?"
When I arrived in Manila early on March 25 I
was met by reporters who interviewed me! (They interview almost everybody in
the Far East!) I went to the YMCA and began a series of interviews with
leading people.
The Reuters correspondent, Mr O’Neill was very
good to me. He introduced me to a number of leading people and on the second
day he took me to the Polo Club where be had a good bathe, watched the polo.
There was a magnificent sunset and we looked out to dinner in a Japanese
restaurant with an American journalist ,(a
friend of Ifor Powell’s) and his wife.
Most of the Philippine experiences are
political talks.
11am - writing 2 articles for the M.G. I
hope they will come out about May 14-15 because May 14 is the day of the
national vote for independence. I must write them soon, but now I am sleepy
after a huge lunch with two big portions of lobster mayonnaise.
Manila was full of traps with little ponies,
water buffaloes dragging wagons women with huge funny puffs over their
shoulders.
I had interesting talks with the British,
German, Chinese, Danish and Japanese consuls; with leading newspaper men;
with the Mayor, President of the University, Secretary of Finance etc, etc,.
I wish I had had time to go to the wild parts. but I had to collect so much
material. I had one day in the country and saw the Philippines in their in
their native haunts. You saw their huts in the photos that I sent.
Then Mr Walter Robb came along and invited me
to stay with him. So I left the Y.M.C.A. and lived in a big house on the
borders of Manila. The Robbs were grand. We joked a lot I got a lot of good
material for articles .We had wheat cakes and maple syrup for breakfast ;and
every morning Mr Robb woke me up reciting something out of Omah Khayam
(Awake for morning ....)
or Milton.
He let me make the American Chamber of Commerce
my headquarters in town.
I lunched with the Japanese Consul in Manila
Club and he was most outspoken on Japan’s aims in the Philippines.
Twice I dined with Prof. Beyer, great authority
on the races of the Far East
- good friend of Ifor Powell . Both
times he took me to a cinema .He is a great film fan.. We saw Dickens
"Mystery of Edwin Drood".
It was amusing to see a Trinity rowing man in
Manila’s main street –Lander. i remembered his name .He invited me to dinner
at the Manila Hotel.
I gathered good material on Japan’s expansion.
(Now I am going to have a bathe before tea)
Do you remember a German novel or film called
"Grand Hotel "? Its
author is Vicki Baum, a blond Viennese woman. She is on board and I have had
some interesting conversations with her ,also danced with her.
Wednesday
On Monday at tea time we arrived at the port of
Amasser, in the Celebes ,below the Equator .1 was amazed to see almost
everybody in a fez and to find that the population was mainly Mohammedan.
With M. de Ronserez I went ashore and saw what a mixture the people were
-Arabs, Armenians, Chinese, Japanese ,Hindus etc. Most of the shops were
Chinese. The women wore lovely red shawls over their heads -brilliant
colours - half hid their faces when strangers came.
Monday night there was a ball on board and the
elite of Macassar was invited all white of course - no natives asked. A lot
of Dutch Officials and their families came and I danced with some of their
daughters.
Tuesday morning I got up at
5.30, had some strong coffee
and saw a magnificent sunrise. Then the German, the Frenchman and I set out
for the mountains in a car. It was a magnificent run - through
native villages, with huts of palm leaves and bamboo ;natives with bright
sarongs (kind of skirt); we motored through rice fields, coconut plantations
until we came to wild forest where tigers live. We came to a region
inhabited by "wild tribes", but the people we saw looked more vacant and
insane than wild, They were small in stature and wore turbans! We came about
9 o’clock in the morning to a rest house on a hill. A lot of convicts were
working near ,guarded by one miserable policeman with a small sword. I took
their photos and they grinned .We were high up in the mountains in former
volcanoes and we had a view right to the sea in the distance. We dashed back
at full speed after coffee and sandwiches ,underneath huge trees and over
muddy rivers for the previous day there had been a big storm. We stopped at
a native village to take photos. The children were terrified and ran away.
The Frenchman bought about 40 bananas for 1 penny.
By noon it was a little hot, but bearable and
we got on board about half an hour before sailing. A dozen native youngsters
dived in for coins near the boat.
Then good-bye to Macassar - and lunch of
excellent lobster mayonnaise - then I slept for 4 hours.
After dinner I played chess with Fletcher, the
rubber planter on whose estate I am going to stay,
Today we arrived in Bali. 1 was sorry not to be
able to see the temples but the costs are so high and the whole island is
being exploited for the tourist trade. It would also mean that I could not
get to Singapore until May and I’d have to cut out Siam
Tonight I am going down to second class to have
a Chinese meal. Tomorrow we arrive in Sourabaya; then I take a boat with
Fletcher (Caius) to Batavia. The railway journey, he says is too hot. He
will motor me from Batavia to his plantation.
Then a week Sat (20th) I sail from Batavia to
Singapore where I arrive April 22 .Thence I sail to Bangkok .Siam.
Soerabaia. Java
Thursday
morning April 11
Here I am in Java, sailing on to Batavia this
afternoon via Semarang from Batavia I shall motor with Fletcher to his
estate. I had an interesting talk with the British consul this morning.
The Chinese dinner last night was splendid. We
had delicious sharks fins soup. The Chinese asked questions like;
"Is your father a rich man?"
"How much does your father earn etc."
I hope that you will get this letter soon by
air mail.
Cariad Cynesaf
Gareth
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