PROPOSED REMOVAL OF CHINESE QUARTER.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12497, 7 May 1906, Page 7

PROPOSED REMOVAL OF CHINESE QUARTER.

THE GROWTH OF CHINATOWN.

(special to "the i-kkss.') ' DUNEDIN, May o. The contributor ol Sail Francu.co neu-*, to tho "Star," writing on Chinatown, says tho aiin.JUiicenieiit that too people- ol Sail i'rauc.i-eo propose to uuiiso the devastation ot tneir c.ty for the removal of the Linn. :>o quarto-.* wilt not ooiiio as a s>urp"..-e tiv thu-e who know trie irritation that h«us long existed agai:i.-t tiio hiiiijecfs ot tho Emperor Jvuang flfii. Slowly and in-i-uiou-ly, but wiirely, "little Ciiina'' had giown from its rudo .settlement ot t-he cany dayo to the ugly, untidy, and huge oxen sconce cf tno projeiu. Commencing in v small way with no inherent qualities ot attractiveness eavo thoie of race and creed, tho lew shop- and shantiu.) gradually extondod and expanded like the tentac.os of the octopus, clutching an hotel here, a churoh there, a halt-dozen shops and a dozen houses ttomewhero eke, then a street, and next a whole block, until the two latter block-*) of their original sett ement, which were buundou. by Stockton ami Dupont streetis, became ten. Nor wero thorw willingly abandoned air.t cheerfully neglected-. They w; to one;' tho liauut-K of fashion and amusement, of busiiKs-.s and jiii a'-ure. It wa-, heie, in tho hist dec;id«*s of the city, tliat ih-j settlors mado their homes and io.tnd their inspiration. They were forced to emigrate hy fhoer pressure irom within. The gambling hells weie .vUronisoil by whites iiom all coiintriem, the obscene entertainments prov.dcJ could bo rivalled in other quarters oi the city whore tho Chinaman wa.s unknown,"' and tho chargo win*, made tliat many eminently ro-poetablo citizoii-s holding high places iv the community wore financially interested in tho-e establishments*. All sorts of iniquities wero fostered and maintained in the back ro(-.***is of the- bj*£ houso-s that could have had no footing had not the white man been at the back of them. Police discipline was lax. bribery wa*' frequent, and the dollar ho id .-way. One pelico commissioner waxetl rich and callous from the proctvds of hi.s ill-gnt-ton but judieioiii-iy exercised campaign cf blackmail. Thv-re wa.s a good deal of the "whited sepulchre" bu-iimss about tho whito man. iti his dealings with the Celestial. Chinatown had its own newspapers and its own printing establishments, and tho bland and dead wall of lace presented to the crdinary pa.s-or-by moro often than not covered si fair know lodge cf what was going on in the- world around it. Stili, the Colostial is a nuisance ami an eye-sore, and his occupancy of the finnst ]«irt of the city has been tr: itdgii'.gly acquiesced in. The San Fi .ii:cisi.-ans will net lot- slip the pn-sent chance. .John will liave to go; the city will know him no moro as a permanent resident. Hunter's Point, which is away round to the far left of tiie ferries and shipping ami fact orb* to the south of Market stroff, will, from tiie American's standpoint, be an excellent locality tor hits Mongolian neighbour. -Mr J. S. Schwartz, of t-hiY*. city, whose mother 'wns in S o-i Francisco at the time of the earthquake, h:*r* only just received a reply to his enquiries a.s to her nifty and that of friends. Mr Sfhw.irtzsfnt three cable messages after the d-:struction of tho city to San Jose. whfiv ho hn-s a sister Living, but received no reply. He also communicated with Mr Seddon asking him to make enquiry, but dors not know whether this wns done. Mr Schwartz ha.s now received ;i reply from Oakland: "All in tho lic-t. possible condition.''