ough without the magnificent background of the sea, recalled to my
sight the sweet vision of my native Varazze, one of the most beautiful
gems that adorn the Riviera Ponente.

It is the chief-town of a district counting 30,000 inhabitants amongst
which about a thousand of diverse races and nationalities. It has two
large streets lined with shops where Malays, Indians, and Chinese offer
a varied and heterogeneous stock of goods for sale.

It is divided in the middle by the big river Batang Padang which
afterwards discharges itself into the Bidor, that too.

As capital of the district it possesses a Post Office, a very large room
where two Indian clerks perform their duties under the direction of an
English Postmaster who has also to overlook the branch offices of the
circuit.

My attention was attracted by an unpretending edifice in front of which
some Malay and Indian soldiers were seated. I was asking them what
building it was when an Englishman came out and courteously told me that
it was the Head Police Station of which he was the inspector.

During a subsequent conversation I learnt that the Police Service was
everything that could be desired as also that of all the other Public
Offices and that Indigenes and Indians were everywhere employed under
the direction of English chiefs. The number of clerks, as in other
British colonies, was according to strict necessity; no extra posts were
ever created for political or personal interest but when assistance was
required there was never any difficulty in selecting local aspirant, as
long as they had a sufficient knowledge of the official language.

So I found that Tapah, the chief-town of the district, is under the
direction of an Englishman, who is called the District Officer, and who
performs all administrative and magisterial functions.

Not much time lost here in the labyrinths of Bureaucracy! And yet I
heard that both the District Officer and the Police Inspector who are
under the control of the Authority residing in Taiping, capital of Perak
but who in reality enjoy almost complete liberty of action, find the
time not only to discharge all the various duties of their office but
also to take recreation in a little football and cricket. It is said
that sometimes the menservants too are called in to take part in these
national sports and for an hour freely compete with their masters in the
art of kicking and batting, returning serious and respectful to their
prop