CHINESE BACKYARDS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 129, 1 June 1907, Page 5

CHINESE BACKYARDS.

A DAYLIGHT EXCURSION, Since ths presence of plague stirred up j the Auckland people, Wellington Chine^o j have been vigorously laided by inspectors, I Yesterday a representative of the Post - went through tho Chinese quarter and. its offshoots to see how tho aliens had obeyr cd order", and foacd that John had been I fairly djligont in putting his backyard j in order in tho inner area of tho city— Lambton-qur,y j,ud Cuba-street, for inttancc — but these were exceptions.. Any opponent of tho municipal markets proposal might relax his hostility if he had a run tkroagh tho roar portions of CbiueEo thops. Cramped space js against clor.niiue:r. In a yard and in I outhouse;, v, he»c thero is scarcely room. 1 for a man to turn without grazing an elbow, the Cdesiirl ctorcs his souud nnd un3ound wares. Now nnd then vegej tables nnd fruit intended for human consumption ere sljckod right sgainsfc the wall of an outbuilding. The Health Department incists on the of at least a sheet of galvanised iron fcutween the food and tho building, but even this p.utition is not very comforting. Howo\or, those thirds, am not known to tlie"Eulopoan,' 1 who puta Uk 2d on the I front counter for a cabbage. The health in^pcctois have to bo continually compolling the Chincro to pay more attsnt.'on to eanitary arrangements, and the aliens aro ever inclined to lapse into their old ways as soon as tho scrutineer's back is turned, Generally the Chir.ejo, whether domiciled in shop* or ordinary houses (mostly hovels) overcrowd tho- premises, and jt is OFlonjsliing that there is not an out- | break of sickness among them. Squalor [ is the custoinrry charicterutic of the ; rear portion of their promises. However a couple of houcc3 in whioh the front rooms were used as shops, wcro I models of cleanliness. The back-rooms were tidy, well-swept and cosy. "You piny fan-tan?" tho proprietor of one of these shops was asked. "Me play piano, organ. I like uni, velly ni," ho "replied. '■jL''an-t.in China ; no fan-t3n here." Ho was not a "KliEtian," he confessed, bat went to the mission-house every Sunday for the joy of playing tho organ. Two or threo of tbo shops have the backyard concreted, with a fall from, each end towards the centre, md this arrangement, of course, helps the Chincco to keep their piacri clean. There vv-s, nowever, haidly oce building specially designed for the frait trade. It would puzzle any architect of these limes to discover the original purpose of tho structured. They have just straggled up somehow. In Haining-strcet the inEpjctor had no difficulty in poking a stick through a couple of crumbling walls. Some of thcst- hovels are hideous inudc ard out, in the daylight, and fairly cry out for destruction. Now and "then tho explorers came across a pen of ducks in tho squalid little backyards, and whsn the owners weio >,old that they ware breaking the lav/ they icplied. nmiliug: "Kill 'cm soon; tcrmoilcr. ' The Chinanun seeni3 to cdoic the duck. He fattens the bird with rice, and then curries it. Cats, too, seem to bo favourite nnimals in the yellow qunitei, though Uie writer has no evidence whether, they figure with the due!.- among the kitchen delicacies. Haining-Ureet is .-warming ujth cats and kittens of all sizes and colours, wild and tame.