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| Ban Hoe Bee |
His trading
company was called Ban Hoe Bee Tin Ore Shop and traded in
tin ore at the time.
His
customers were the dulang washers, mainly Chinese with some being Malay, that panned
the land surrounding Gopeng for tin
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| The site of their former rubber factory (now a driving school) behind No 6 Sungai Raia Road |
The outlet was
a sizable and consisted of a working area, a space for drying the rubber
sheets and worker quarters.
His clients
were the rubber small holders surrounding Gopeng who would bring in rubber and
latex to the centre.
Boon San also
owned a rubber plantation in Segari near Lumut which had a factory for processing
rubber.
When he was getting
on in years Boon San requested his second son Chew Choo Peng to return from Penang
to assist him and his elder brother in the business.
On returning
to Gopeng he became the treasurer for the local Chinese school SJK ( M ) Man
Ming and was active in the local Hokkkien Association and temple.
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| Chew Choo Peng with his wife and family |
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| Chew Soak Leng with her mother Chang Poh Yoke |
When there
was sufficient volume of tin and rubber stocks their father would load their lorry
and send the stock to Ipoh to be sold.
Regarding the
rubber plantation at Segari her father would visit it once every fortnight
taking his family with him.
On those
excursions father would drop the family off at Lumut and proceed to the
plantation. Only occasionally would he take them to Segari. When at the estate
they were to remain in the office due to ‘the ferocious mosquitoes’.
On the
return journey home they would stopover at Sitiawan for dinner before heading
home.
Several
times a year father would go to Penang for a weekend at the beach sometimes
staying at the holiday bungalow belonging to Eastern Smelting Company.
In the late
seventies there was a recession. It affected both the commodities of rubber
then tin causing the family to sell off their assets gradually until family had
to shift from No 6 Sungai Raia Road.
End
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