The Plantation - Di Morrissey [25]
After the ceremony, the newlyweds, friends and family posed outside the church for photographs. More pictures were taken outside the elegant Peninsula Hotel before the bridal party was ushered into the formal ballroom for their reception. Winifred was surprised at the large number of guests and found herself seated next to Roland’s father.
Eugene Elliott was a courtly, if rather formal, sort of gentleman, stiff, precise and proper. He did not indulge in small talk but launched into quite complicated details in response to Winifred’s simple question, ‘How did you get into rubber, Mr Elliott?’
‘The British were growing cocoa and coffee in Malaya but a disease swept through and wiped out many of their crops, so a few chaps started looking about to start anew. They’d been living in the East and made a fair fist of it so weren’t about to settle back in the Old Dart.’
‘Oh dear,’ said Winifred as she sipped on her brown windsor soup. ‘So what happened?’
‘About sixty years ago some chap smuggled rubber tree seeds out of Brazil, rather naughty of him. Brought them to Kew Gardens in London and some of the saplings were sent to Ceylon and Malaya, to see what they’d do. The resident of Perak was something of an amateur botanist and encouraged some of the planters to switch their empty plantations over to rubber. We had all those unemployed Ceylonese workers hanging about, so we had a workforce and cleared land. So rubber took off in Malaya, especially with the need for pneumatic tyres for motor cars. I established my own plantation – Utopia – about forty years ago. Couldn’t help but make money in those days. Been a few ups and downs since then, but we’re very proud of what we’ve done.’
‘And you’ve been here ever since?’ said Winifred, beginning to get an inkling of how deep Roland’s roots were in Malaya.
Dr Hamilton, on the other side of Winifred, had been listening to Eugene and interjected, ‘It’s not a place one leaves easily, Mrs Oldham. The East gets a hold of you, as your daughter will discover. But it’s especially so for the menfolk. It’s a lifestyle. Friendships are forged in difficult conditions and the community unites because of the unique circumstances in which people find themselves.’
‘It’s a way of life we’ve created, and we enjoy our successes and triumphs in business, on the sporting field and we also share our tribulations. The esprit de corps is very strong,’ said Eugene. ‘And because most of the Europeans are scattered about we tend to make the most of social occasions. So this is a very happy day for our families.’ He raised his empty glass. ‘Boy!’ A waiter was instantly at his side, replenishing his drink and Dr Hamilton’s.
Winifred was impressed by the calibre of the guests at the reception. The district officer, his wife and their daughter, Thelma, were there. Winifred had been introduced to planters and representatives from both the great trading firms of Bousteads and Guthries, as well as members of the Malayan Civil Service and she was quite surprised to see a few well dressed Chinese there also.
When she questioned Dr Hamilton about their presence, he replied, ‘This isn’t India, you know. We like to mix with the other races and some of these fellows are quite good chaps. Shrewd business people.’
As the afternoon wore on, Winifred became bemused by the steady drinking and uninhibited dancing. Everyone seemed to be having a fine time. And she had been twirled around the dance floor several times, by Roland, Gilbert, Eugene and Dr Hamilton.
Margaret was also enjoying every moment, every compliment and every friendly promise of invitations to meet to show her the ropes. Roland danced with her superbly, kissing her cheek and whispering in her ear, making her blush. She was reluctant to leave the party when her mother tapped her on the shoulder, suggesting it was time that she retired and changed into her going-away outfit.
With Winifred’s help Margaret put on a pale-blue linen suit,