IN WELLINGTON'S SLUMS

Evening Star, Issue 17924, 21 March 1922, Page 4

IN WELLINGTON'S SLUMS

CIVIC LEAGUE'S TOUR. EIMTI.Y CONDITIONS. A Civic League party that on Thursday morninrr visited somo of the slums of Wellington' learned little for itself about, tho morals of the quarter; but, it saw some filth and ugliness, and sampled abominable odors. ... Tho first call was on Hindus. .Sanitary officers from the City Council and the Health Department, the ciceroni of tho party, pointed out a ramshackle twostoried dwelling with closed -windows and a deserted look. A narrow passage runs from tho high gate to the back door, and along this passage trooped the officials, tho league members, and a. 'Dominion' representative. Bottles were piled high in the backyard; but there was no garbage lying about. The occupants of the house were summoned to open the door, and the domiciliary inspection commenced. What reallv appalled was tho fetid, nauf.eating atmosphere. The smoke of cigarettes, the effluvium of neglected garments, but, above all, the stale, stuffy odor of curry conspired to render tho air around almost unbrea.th.ablo. Yet tho inhabitants seemed quite at home in it, and accepted cheerfully the orders for scrubbing and cleaning. In tho house opposite things were much the fiame. The building was in a terriblo state of disrepair. Three beds of _scrts were found in a dingy little coop Bft by 9lt - , , i Other Hindu houses visited wore found passably, if not scrupulously, clean. A recent warning to tho users had had its effect. , Only one sample of the actual living quarter's of tho Chinese visited wore obviously not very badly kept, and tho air in them was fresh. Constant pressure from the sanitary officials had taught the Chinese that it was possible to open a window here and there without fata! results. A weekly floor-washing had been made compulsory, and the benefits of Uiio compulsion were plainly to Joe seen. A Chinese restaurant, with its quaint chopsticks and rice bowls, was iri.spr.cted. Its general appearance was passable. Like the Hindus, the Chinese hid the icsentment they may havo felt against the white men who came to pry and stare. They gave their unbidden guests a courteous good-day and a sliiy humorous -mile. To the pressman, the surprise of the morning was the condition of a certain boarding-house. As the man who kept it explained, his guests were largely the iejocts of other and mora exclusive establishments. They were apt to confer their patronage upon him when they had imbibed too freely. The place was old. The kitchen was clean, the fables of tho eating room "were clean also. But along a narrow passage were bedrooms little better than dens. From the cud of the passage a staircase mounted in darkness : then there were more bedrooms. On the wall of one hung an. incredibly dirty array of clothing. There were holes in the thin mattress on tho bod. But what could one expect for a few pence a night—and that, the host assured the party, was all that many of his guests could afford.