By Dorothy Nixon

8) Batu Caves Estate:

I only learned by reading the Trial of Sumida Haruzo, about the Double Tenth Trial, and reading my grandmother's affidavit, that my grandfather, her husband, was manager of Batu Caves estate in 1940. The Estate is named for the beautiful and sacred (to the Hindus) Batu Caves, nearby. All situated not far from Kuala Lumpur.

I believe that when my grandfather first went out to Malaya, in 1914 or so, he was assistant manager at a place called Tremalby in Selangor. My grandmother followed him there after the war and they raised three children.

I couldn't find much info on Batu Caves Rubber Estate on the web. But a contact in England found a passage in an old book for me that described that estate in the 20's. Batu Caves, as the author describes it, was a well-known estate,a large one, too, with 400 laborers. I think over the following decades much of the the rubber plantation part was taken over by tin mines. My UK contact, a retired rubber industry employee, had lived near Batu Caves estate in the 50's (after my grandfather left)and by that time it had shrunk to half its size. The part of this story about the popping trees comes from the aforementioned book. Unfortunately, I can't recall the name of the book or author, although I know the author was a biographer of Joseph Conrad.