State of Sydney.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 82, 20 December 1887, Page 3

State of Sydney.

The mayor of Sydney, who has expressed his determination to sweep away the worst of the dens which now disgrace the lower parts of the city, especially those favoured by the Chinese, has made an inspection of the city buildings. Attention was directed to the tenements occupied by the poorer classes and the Chinamen in the Haymarket division of the city and it was found necessary to condemn, as absolutely unfit for human habitation, 83 houses, 10 of which were occupied by Chinamen. In several other cases the owners were ordered to effect immediate repairs. Some houses were in a horribly dirty state, and the extent to which the crowding and herding together of Chinamen, and even poor European families, was carried on is almost beyond belief. The tenements occupied by the Chinamen were in an even worse condition, and in one instance no fewer than 17 Chinamen were found packed into a small cabin, 10 of them finding sleeping accommodation in a low room lees than 10 ft. square. The mayor has directed public attention to the urgent necessity of some movement for the erection of working men’s tenements in the city, either as a speculation or a philanthropic enterprise.