Annual report on the social and economic progress of the people of the Straits Settlements.

Date:
[1935]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the social and economic progress of the people of the Straits Settlements. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the perfect putting greens, lawns and playing fields which are the envy of visitors from India and other tropical countries. The excessive humidity, which makes the temperature so much more trying and enervating, has also its compensations, for it is probably due to the ever-present moisture in our atmosphere that sun-stroke is almost, if not entirely, unknown in this country. That the sun is not to be feared here as it is in other tropical countries is a comparatively new discovery. Not many years ago the sun was treated with the greatest respect and it was considered absolutely necessary for a European to wear a sun-helmet or double-crowned “terai” hat in the daytime after the sun was up. Now, however, ideas have changed and sun worship has become a local cult in all three Settlements, particularly in Singapore, where its finest temple is found in the palatial premises of the Singapore Swimming Club. This is a European club, with a membership of over 3,000, which since 1931 has possessed what is probably one of the finest swimming- pools in the whole Empire. The pool is 100 ft. wide and 210 ft. long, divided into a main pool 165 ft. long and a children's pool 45 ft. long. The depth varies from 4 ft. 6 in, at the shallow end of the main pool to 10 ft. at the deep end, with a depth of about seven feet half way. The pool is filled with sea water which is filtered and treated by a most elaborate and expensive process that successfully maintains at all times a purity equal to that of drinking water. The club is situated on the sea-shore at Katong, a suburb of Singapore about five miles from the centre of the town, and for members who prefer it there is also swimming in the open sea, with the protection of two “pagars” or fences to keep out the occassional sharks from the harbour that have been known to visit the sandy beaches of Katong. The club is crowded on Sundays and holidays and its regular habitues wear, the shadowed livery of the burnished sun as naturally as the Prince of Morocco himself, while the European children, who a few years ago would hardly have been allowed out of the house between the hours of nine in the morning and half past four in the afternoon, now play about the whole morning through in the scantiest of swimming suits acquiring, like their elders, a sun-bronze complexion all over. With all its compensations, however, the climate is a very trying one. The enervating effect of continuous heat combined with high humidity is cumulative and the very monotony of the never-ending summer has a deleterious effect on the nervous system even of the healthiest. For the visitor or tourist the climate is delightful and the many amenities offered make any of the Settlements well worth a visit. It is no paradox, however, that the ideal holiday climate is not necessarily good for every-day enjoyment the whole year round. Though thoroughly appreciative of the many advantages that Malaya’s eternal summer offers, particularly the all-the-year-round facilities for out-door games and sport of every kind, the European finds after two or three years continuous residence, with only local leave, that work and play alike become an effort, and that mentally and physically he is tired out. A lengthy holiday with a change to a more bracing- climate then becomes an absolute necessity if health is to be maintained.