1953-10-05 — Page 4

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PALM-TREE PARABLE

THE "CHINA-MAIL, MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1953.

POSTSCRIPT TO

A VOYAGE BY MOTOR-BOAT

DREAMER of the isles

James Leasor charts a crisis in coral

A

MALE (Maldives). of Britain. He said once about PECULIAR little the British: They protected us during the war and helped us thin in tragedy, with

thick and a moral

through for many, has been played, pezes out here in this cluster of a thousand coral islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean 400 miles south-west of Ceylon.

He

Won wasted

on

one

and invited other women enter politics.

to

This alarmed the menfolk. A bad Ashing seaton brought a threat of starvation and the brought Amin Didl down. Ife

in Maldives. He could not down- tuffers from diabetes and high

enough to work blood pressure, and while

for Madras early this month tear blmselt

treatment, the people of the in the rate of his countrymen.

Nor could he do only Job. As well as being President Maldives demanded he resign

became: Prime Minister, He got urgent home enlis. AD for RAF Sunderland few him in. Affairs, Minister for Worried Cabinet Ministers, led Education, by Ali Didi, advised him against lending in the face of a host lo mob of thousands, 10 Amin Didi

to rowed

Din du Island, one or two miles off.

It concerns the downfall he

Finance,

Amin Didi, Presi Feign Minister, of one dent of the Maldive Re. I me public, which was creatert Justice. on January 1 this year, and the people of the Maldive group of islands, which he elevate into a wanted to

more important position than they now hold.

After the war the old sultan's Amin Dicti, rule ended.

who was in direct descent from

the sulton's line, became Prisne Minister,

A friend

WHEN the Maklivca came a republic

January

C became President, and us such accorded

~

bra

Brsi

Was

2 gons a salute of from the cruiser 1.M.S. Ceylon, which brought the Brilish Hig Commissioner and other notables.

Colombo from junkelings here.

for

the

Minister

AMIN DIDI

Exiled ex-President.

was

He is still there, guarded, but

with his louse servants, a Napoleon of the southern seas on his coral Elba,

Most of the ruling classes

here are related, but Didi is not a family name. It is an old title. Uke the English squire, Ibrahim Ali Didi is now shar- ing the running of the country with another cousin, Ibrahim Mohamed Didi.

Friend No. 2

IBRAHIM

n grey-haired. kindly man, also warm to- wards the British, and he sald to me sadly: "The tragedy of Didi is that he was too Amin Forty-six-year-old Amin Dill, Commerce, and Public Safety. plump, shefish, with spectacits, has always been a goot friend as well as Commander-in-Chief advanced in his idea, te im-

of the Maldive military force patient," Full 50 surug when on parade.

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Now all

Amin Didi's bold He nish became principal of building plans are scotched. The the local boys school, president fishermen have been persuaded olubs the back to their bouts to try fresh f four local sports

the In probably

unly Prime sections of the played food, has ever

Minister who

centre-forward for his country's Ceylon by

Soccer teamn).

and also presi- motor

Hour fur been sent Ja Irom

unly the Maldives' vesse),

wooden D Soft:

us it boat, and life is much used to be.

sea,

dent of the Poetical Society.

IN

His policy

of the shore, on his palmy leland, watching the lights of TN the gulda book, which he home, is the man who dreamed characteristically wrote him- of a wider fame and future for self, he defined his policy: "We his country, a man who made

his dream his master. are oui for changes, but

Just story about some far- changes and reforma must

away islands, you might think. slow.'

one of the of the year Not at all. It is sharpest parables on the relative values of power

the be

But to to anything by degrees was beyond him.

practicni politics.

He borrowed 1,000,000 rupees and patience and their place in (£75,000) from the Ceylon Government, and started on an ambitious programme of build- schools, triumphal archways Ing

on the quaysides, and 4011-wide roads. To bulid these roads, he cut down hundreds of breadfruit trees and coconut palms, anney- ing the inhabitants, who need them for food, But when they complained, he said:

"Work now and if you are hungry eat- the leaves,

In his cagerness to balance the Maldive economy he cut down

Each Colour

Shows Where

You Live

Busman's Holiday

for Gary.

·That every available pollen car in' Northumberland swooped' on sheep ruatiera but failed to catch them is true enough. But the story that cowboy Gary Cooper was hauled from his London hotel by Northumberland' shop. herds as the obvious person to handle this sort of thing is just a lot of ald stuft spread around by me aa an excuse to illustrato, yet another exemple of American aid.

by

GILES

London Express Bervice

TWO MEN OF GENIUS MUSICAL COMEDY

IN

London.

AM writing this on the

eve of the first produc-

tion of "The King And

By Beverley Baxter, M.P.

would be a writer.' That was like a flash of lightning. It revezled everyfying that I had bren trying to hide from myself,

Had written

sketchos

for

bust

Then

His

посе

Yet it was obvious that these that it should have been called ! like a Helty Traddles, and the I" by Oscar Hammer- other was a short slight man two men of genlus were creating South Soporifle." There were metcar shows at college, stein and Richard Rodgers, with the face of a calm sollef- a new technique and extending come mildly good notices, but is werds cleared the line for From that moment my Will that fabulous pair tor. Probably they were frum enormously the scope of musical the rest, including mine, were me score yet another triumph. Canada or England and just comedy. Gilbert and Sullivan pretty tough. Hammerstein had mind was made up.".

invite my or will this gentle piece of wanted to renew acquaintance had brought wit and topleality been good enough to

we lalked of crities. to their immortal operettas, but wife and myself to a party at "why do you invite them to from some distant past, semi-oriental whimsey mark

they never visualised the chorus the Savoy following the pre- your opening nights?" I asked

did not go. It "My name is Hammersteln," as anything more than a collee miere, but we the turning point of their

said the big fellow, and this is tion of singers who all did the would have been impossible to. "You and Dick Rodgers have earcer?

same thing at the same time and drink his wing knowing what I acquired such fame that the Dick Rodgers." If he had said

public is yours for the taking." he was Needless to say, the pro- that

Smith and that never remained anything but the would write the next day. the olher

was fellow

Bill chorus,

crinkled with a duction will be at our

However, the public paid small Watson he could not have national theatre, Drury

Rodgers and

We had warned rather shy amusement, and then Hammerstein attention to us, shown less bombast.

he becaine serious. "The critics broke through the existing con- them but they would not accept aren't often wrong," he said. Lane. With the exception

"South Pacific" "They see Instead of ballet be- our warning. that the names Ventions. of a few weeks immediately

things with a tresk thrown dr wholly

mere ran for over two years, after the war, when Noel

unfamiliar Ing

eye when the author has become divertissement,, they made the Coward had a

Once more I realised that a so familiar with his of "Oklahoma" at Drury Lane story. They had the wisdom to critic should never meetan that he may lose his

sense of with a devitalised

musica! Hammerstein looked as pleased choose Agnes De Mille to direct actor or a dramatist. The Ary proportion. A lot of critics in comedy, the old firm of R. as a schoolboy, but. Rodgers three dances, and she achieved feet that one knows and takes a New York didn't like our new and H. have been in pos- retained his silence.

startling dramatic effects,

a critic to be Jullet show." dramalist forces

thinks the session of Drury Lane for

more harsh-If he the last seven years,

towards

After all, giranger. tos can be fleeting, but a friendships can be

bad

flop

I shall never forget the first night

et "Oklahoma" there. Naturally is spectacular run in New York had built up an Im- mense renown, and we went to our seats in The the

old grand theatre with more than a

ting- ling of excitement. In truth, the atmosphere was electric.

The overture was applauded as if it were a masterpiece, and even the dramatic critics-forgot: 10 look bored. As for gallery, they were in a mood to

tobacco imports, and then for THE setting of the Mal-cheer if THE

bade smoking.

dive Islands is some-

He freed women from the thing between R. M. Ball- voll, which the Moslem religion

"Coral Island" bade them weur in purdah, sent antyne's many women students

to and H. de Vere Stacpoole's Colombo on Government grants, "Blue Lagoon" - where every prospect pleases and only man is sometimes vile, but not often.

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The Maldivians seem too easy- crime: going to indulge in offences are few.

They are simple people, mild-

Iy Irdolent in their superb

climate; without malice,

When they are not fishing or watching others fish, they play maudi, a sort of baseball.

They live mostly on bread- trult and coconuts. They are not rich, but not unhappy.

THE CAPITAL

There are 90,000 folk of these Islands,

and about 0,000 arc

on the concentrated

capital jaland, Male (pronounce Mahl), in area about one square ΜΠ mile and with streets of powdered coal.

Male island is divided into four sectors called wards, each. with its Own

colour, blue, pick, green and The doors and window grey. shutters of the houses in each acctor Arc painted in these colours.

Britain had voluntary treaty relations with the Maldives since 1887, with the strict con- dition that the British should not

LANDLORD & TENANT (AMDT.) interfere with their internal

ORDINANCE, 1953,

SCHEDULE A

FORMS 1 & 2

Complete with Chinese translation

Price 25 cents each $20.00 per 100

On sale at

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HONG KONG and KOWLOON

on

I intimated were nol

and recalled the opening night dancers take up the theme of the

Hammerstein, "1. you would Trouble Ahead how is poor-than he would be

We were wondering," sald

love time to ste 'Allegro' while you're here. Some of the crities don't like it."

"Not oil of them," sald composer Rodgers, making his first intrusion In the dialogue.

"I like Allegro" cald Hem- mmerstein, "and if you could go to we'll have ticke's at the box cffice for you."

the

cat walked out of LE

Stage-Struck

made

,

own work

"Were, they eight?"!"

:

"I don't think co-at any rate

rat altogether."

"Is it a success?"

"Oh, yos."

A Cup Of Tea

previous to

the history of

to "007.rary,

Good.

tho

"Showship

finished

men

BUT there was trouble ahead critic must live with his con- D for R. and H., at any rate as science for ever, On my subre- far as London was concerned, quent visits to New York I

But this is not the whole "South Pacifle" had conquered no further contact with Ham- story. When Hammerstein col- and ruled New York long before merstein, and on his periodical laberated with Jerome Kern, it was dus at Drury Lane, and visits to London I heard nothing they had triumph after triumph. when it finally turned up m from him,

In fact the three longest runs in. London we who had frst night

Lanc werd tickets were looked upon with the reverence of Mount Everest

Hammerstein operettas (incluid

ow Boal"). But when They were conquerors. enough

ended Ham- to send two extra tickets UEN this summer he turned for my son and daughter, which up to superintend the choosing murstein could do nothing right.

chorus and small part New York. said he was ET me explain that I was caused my daughter to say: of the

dramatic critic of the London "Daddy, if you pan this show I'll actors for the opening of "The That scourge of talented the wings.

Then up went the curtain Evening Standard at that time, never speak to you again!" On King And I at Drury Lane frustration-made weary the

such

run frail fabric is fillal love the

"South of

Pacific" days and nights for him. New WE what?" At the left side of and their approach

not

having finally come to an end, gods has appeared and were not the vast stage there was the entirely divorced from that fact. sustainedt

Unknown to him I had seen the to be dented, Now for the story behind the new corner of a tiny cottage and a Yet that would not be the whole

plece in New York and metlerly-looking woman knit explanation Rodgers and Ham-

American "Josh" liked it, so with a clear con- ting. There, was a huge back- merstein especially Harmerslein story. The

of a

a note. Just plain stage-struck Logan not only produced "South vast plain and e

science I dropped him aloth

but York chorus, no they think, talk

no loons. They live in the theatre, Pacific"

and asked him to come down to nothing more. No

Commons and and breathe adapted it for the star from a the House of whirlpool of colour, no dancers! Rodgers and Hammerstein had theatre, and when they go to book of shert stories. He had, have a cup of tea on the Terrace.

sleta em sure that they dream however, sent another producer He replied at once, accepting. tinction of blasphemed against the strongest of the theatre.

to superintend the London open-

"Oklahoma". As a play it was tradition of Drury Lane.

ing. Logan himself did not It was a beautiful day, and mildly successful and no more, But there the aknilarity drive until four days before when he arrived the scene was but Hammeriteln saw its pos- between them ends. In physique, the opening.

almost ono of magic. Whilo zibellés for a new kind of.... in appearance and in tempera-

the Terrace was in shadow, the muskal show and acquired the He went to a rehearsal and

ΟΣ -Quthy dia- ment no two men could be less bit of a

alike. Hammerstein is a cheer deelded that the dialogue was getting aun lit the opposite bank rights for a small legue a handsome young sentimentalist. If he had a new bring spoken too quickly for with co sharp a light that the money. baritone cowboy apparently show to produce and met a the British car, "Slow downl" buildings seemed almost to be a "This was not just a boy America breeds

theatre owner who was out of became the slogan in rehearsal stage flluminated by footlight meets-girl affair," he said, "but storied to sing. Here luck, he would give the show to And bellove me they did.

The gurgling Thames was tinted the orchestra was

with silver, and even the tugs part of the American story. The clop ham on any old teams and no

hiero of the story was a territory under Westminster passing

Deeply Moved

AFTER

по

tenors

the

In Now

elop of horse's hooves. From matter how unsuitable the theatre Ran Two Years the cellos came those haunting, might be. Therefore the builness descending notes with their aide is handled by the implacable. suggestion of unhurried twi- Rodgers, that genius of aweet light.

of merc

sound.

оно

man

lawyern before new dignity us a state. In the the Danseltis blitphcmous vandalism proceedings begin.

of war we had forgolten that anything ever grow.

At the end of the show there in my mer urut are still wild In memory. The ovation ned the cheers went on

the

Rather A Shock

artist

Mery

to

Possibilities

THEN the Theatro

Guild of

New York produced a drama- Dovel called

ย

Bridge had a rakish, pirate look. of cowboys moving, towards

voice he told me

many-also

named

OCITIO

to.

sient

London and built the added ballet, to help tell the

.

I talked it over with THE arst act seemed intermin. And there in his soft, lazy state cowboys moving towards Rodgers and he saw its how his rich Dick able. The American cast, orman Brandfather from Ger possibilities for a new kind of It is dMeult after this long

that grand

Little

We even music.

had violent time

to understand why we They tell me in New York headed by

Oscar death, although technically мето Martin;

It were so deeply moved Perhaps that when Rodgers finlehes

was musical comedy. Then we it was because we had been contract and puts his signature nervous, cnd they conveyed thefe Hammerstein-had

the audience. London opera house in besieged by war for five years 10 it, they have to supply nervousness

Imme WEL spoken

There's a touring com- ard had scen the ruin

from the old story. our restoratives to the lawyers. He Every of our cities and the weariness

has

who is Ox if it were a pronunciamento, way, just up cnly

playing 'Oklahoma' for five existence. Then suddenly from tougher, and oddly enough he Nor wire we amused by the Galoty Theatre, under the mis pany in the States that's been.

years. Sometimes, when we get? America there had come this is also a composer-Irving Ber offhand attituds of the Ameri- taken Impression that London distinguished music-story of a territory throb- in. When Berlin makes a con- an idlers on the stage towards could sustain two opera, houses. n charce, Dick and 1go and

their offers.

You can joke

have a look at it." bing with life and moving to its tract they supply restoratives to about the Abbey in England, or Mind Made Up /

As far as his manner was the about Parliament, or even

concerned, he might have been Dirby, but you must not joke

show TUIE grandfather last a fortune describing an amateur about the Navy.

because the English had which had run two weeks factor become accustomed to their instead of one. Those ylara of There was another to finish that small New York that could not have been for the midst ovent Garden, and foilure and frustration did not romantle hero of the of a vegetable market, embitter him, and the years of seen The oplode. I went to "Allegro" South Pacific is a man in fur and they were not to be lured success have not added on inch and on, and

his liked J

of to 10 excited away by the gilded opulence of moderately.

vunity. arxi the young Americans on the Hammerstein the sentimentalist New York that men of similar the new one. Today the Lon-

Late fiftles. This stage wept unaaliamed.

One-had takon musical number after another hoary idea of a rich man who see themselves in this un efeln I bul

as his theme the rushed to "South Pacific" to den opera house that Hammer Boyish Traddles

bult in a white elephant, who

musical E was repented as if we were went back to his old home town expected role of glamour. In show. For a time it showed Tule sun, bad set and the op- going stay the night. The to

it was absurd. And happiness, forgetting the British with Its that no rich

it films and even

posito bank had resumed its ́man · OVAT

descended gos England a man of fifty has niemories had gone mad, but back to his old home town if he all over a boy of twenty-five ico, shows. Sometimes It is usual sombre condition. A harge I think even the ghosts of the can help: it, and then only to when it comes to romance,

dark for weeks at a time. But chugged its way towards the past would have approved.

· the 'vegetables the old Bridge and tho "Oklahoma" had begun ta thres which he has built to case

open a library or something When the first act finally Covent Garden Opens house almost deserted. The crux of the Maldives

ended, I saw with some pe continues ta life of glory you people made of the Coron■**.

"That was wonderful fim problem is this: They are coral

years not

`not, long after the conselenco or please his vanity"- turbation that my daughter was without

followed "Olda

coming to speak to me. "How did you become a tion, he said as we shook hande so wheat, rice, and maize cannot opening that I went to New round Drury Lane, und bo

These foods the

agree with you completely she writer?" I asked

goodbye, guess if you give of the Dutch spoke grown.

two ran for

The English enough centuries. years Islanders must import and pay Trent Club, a genial, off-the- It had charm,, and Rodgers Bald. Not bad, considering that for the Importa, from

she was sitting in another bartow that to two men he rehearse they can do things dried record lunchton group the

com- music was quite superb, but it of the theatre and we had not answered. Charles Dickens better than anyone on earth, fish they sell to Colombo:

pored principally of journalists, was rather a shock in ena conexchanged a word.

und my tutor at college. I was Whereupon with a shy, friend- As the last few Ashing seasons. and theatrical folk,, When the to find that Heaven had 'op-

studying for the law and one jy smile he shook hands and dem. luzcheon was over 3 mw that parently been taken over by the The next day the critics had day he rather oddly asked me parted, looking more than ; over have been poor, exports waned.

Against this worsening back-two men were walling to speak Americans. The success was in a nigfit out if you will whit I intended to be," "I said like a tall, Unikky, ground of poverty the great to me. One was 's large, why the muste, not in the other use the libernian, of the a lawyer course onde sya boyjak plans of Amin Didi wára' folly.

untida man, looking moundering story.

expression. One of then wrold said, "I always thought you Charles Dickins

aro

The islands have some

they value, equidistant from Ceylon and Mombasa, and one or two were used as a base by the Navy and R.A.F. In the last war.

THE PROBLEM

great

old theatre -

WAS

York and

[rathar,

"

to

beloved