RUBBER AND THE MODERNISATION OF THE PAKU IBAN IN ...

expensive and unaffordable by the rural people at that time. A very high
percentage of households purchased and owned household material wealth
such as sewing machine, outboard engine, dressing table, and wall clock (see
Table 1 in the next page).
Most of these household items were bought in Spoah. However, some of those
items were bought in Kuching or were ordered from Kuching. About 5% of
the respondents, for instance, bought their outboard engines in Kuching, while
some 27% of them had ordered these outboard engines from Kuching. Some
respondents had also ordered their wardrobe (23%), dressing table (21%),
sewing machine (19%), wall clock (12%), brass iron (8%), and cupboard (4%)
from Kuching.
Table 1
Frequency and percentages of households (respondents)
by ownership of household items or material wealth
by 1950s and early 1960s
Items No. of households
(respondents)
Percentage
Wardrobe 71 84.5
Sewing machine 67 79.8
Dressing table 56 66.7
Outboard engine (boat) 57 67.9
Wall clock 53 63.1
Brass iron 50 59.5
Belian table 43 51.2
Wooden bed 24 28.6
Cupboard 17 20.2
Marble table 10 11.9
Brass bed 8 9.5
6.2.4. Adoption of Western and Modern Culture
Other than the gradual adoption and accumulation of household material
wealth it was also a period of transition to modern or Western cultures. This
was evident with the seemingly popular habit of purchasing of expensive and
luxury personal items. Although the introduction of Western attire such as
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