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The Spike or Victoria University College Review 1933

[P. N. Denton in India]

page 70
Palace of the Maharajah of Bikanebr.

Palace of the Maharajah of Bikanebr.

By courtesy of Mr. P. N. Denton, of Lambton Quay, Wellington, we reproduce two of the many excellent lantern photographs with which he illustrated a recent lecture on "India," given to members of the V.U.C. Tramping Club. Mr. Denton was for eleven years one of the firm of Government jewellers in India, and in this capacity was able to travel many thousands of miles through the country. Besides observing and photographing many items of interest available to the ordinary traveller, he was able in his business capacity to visit many of the wealthy native princes.

The lecturer took his hearers on a journey from Simla to Agra, Delhi and Calcutta, visiting on the way the beautiful mosques and temples, and some of the palaces of the Maharajahs—dazzling edifices built at fabulous cost.

The extravagance of the princes is also evidenced in rivalry over surpassing collections of jewels, and here Mr. Denton was able to present a new angle on this aspect of Indian life. The visit of the King and Queen of England was the occasion for overhauling and augmenting the finest pieces of their jewellery for the most effective display. One Maharajah had all his jewels remodelled under Mr. Denton's personal super-vision into a magnificent necklace as shown in the second illustration. So anxious were his officers to see that no jewels had been changed or omitted that on its return it took many hours to satisfy them that all was in order.

Altogether, Mr. Denton's talk and his pictures threw much new light on our conception of the life of the wealthy classes in India. But in addition the lecturer showed us various aspects of native life in all stages of society, and the photographs included a striking view of the Ganges on the occasion of a special religious festival. Hundreds of thousands of people packed the banks, and we had little difficulty in believing that drowning fatalities at such times were appallingly high. Throughout, Mr. Denton gave some very interesting commentaries on the general activities of the community. Indeed, under the glow of his pictures India seemed to live before our eyes, and we left with a fuller understanding of our dark brethren of the Indian Empire.

(ADVT.)

(ADVT.)