Rangoon in many ways is very much like Shanghai: the business section lies along the left bank of the Irrawaddy and the residential part some two of three miles further back, The buildings are not, quite so handsome as those—of Shanghai, though many parts of the town are very beautiful, Rangoon for some reason seemed to be dargoing perpetual repair. (Still more like Shanghai—Fd.) Long seetion of Dalhousie street, Canal street, and Strand road were being. torn up, narrowed, widened, and changed. The Indian workmen seemed determined to pull up as looked quite d road. much as possible of what to me sent Hundreds of Tandt inging, and polling away, and hundreds more were reconstructing roads and still hundreds more were busy' with huge tar boilers. I could only conclude that there must be a handsome tax hale Jazeo and that Rangoon ratepayers demanded some tangible evident that the money was being wisely and carefully expended. Rangoon has an enormous population of Burmese, Chinese, Arukanese, and. Indians and they' all pay taxes.
A batch of 200 Indians, say. Cingalese, Telegus, Tamils, Madrasi, arrives in Rangoon So poor and destitute are they that five men might easily carry the belongings of the whole 200, Tha company' is usually made up of 150 men, 20 women, and 20 children One brainy member of the fraternity' secures a small flat at soma nominal price and in this the women and children try to sleep. The problem is simply and appall-perplexing and what can the poration of Rangoon do, if it would save itself from extinction, provide work for thousands of Indian coolies every day—and the payer has te pay. You can no ose ton the Indians coming into burma than you can stop the ocean coming up the Trrawaddy. Both, Jrour in and both pour out, The Tndian, unlike the Chinese or the Turmese, is only a temporary vise itor. He comes there from the overpopuilated plains of India make a few rupees; he rents th cheapest house; eats the cheapest food; and wears the cheapest clothes. Financially, commercially, and even facially he contributes nothing to this great Burmove city.
Chinese of the third and fourth generation are in Rangoon. They have built. up large commercial interest, They have guild halls and their ancestral temples, places of worship and places of amusements They have 27 separate educational institutions with hundreds Chinese boys and girls. They have built beautiful. houses and establish. ed the old Chinese home. The Tn= dian chettie may be worth millions of rupees; he looks at the Chartered Bank of Iidio with the air of a man. who could no doubt buy the whole establishment, yet he washes fat the public pump, eats the cheap-Jest food and wears the cheapert earment, The Burmese ix a happy Ro-lucky individual and what earns he spends, having no desire to hoard what comes to hin with the passing day. The Indian therefore ix the problem to the Rangoon tax-payer. The Indian in Rangoon rich oF poor, pays practically not ing back in tax revenue; in fact iteould appear that a large part of the. taxes. are devoted £0, pO" ising hie with work and ineldentlly Keeping him alive. And 80. the Foadandsiret demolition and Construction go on ike Tenyson's famous brook 'There iene and appaventty only one elfin ta thin perplexing hous mums of hitney_are Put Crevtation, by foreign business firma in Rangoon nnd this money, Tntead' of coming ack again, onoclea "by. the. Todaas. The Chinese appreciate his, ince finances they not only aett but ther
time and very quickly amadses a The het in avery shore fortune but, the iden of spending
ulation te sll far from him, The rey putting bit money into ele~ {Sen m third of what he ote and
tax of the shale question ix that the Intian.coolie will not spend, SINS will the wealthy ehettie, nor the Bengali kaya.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.