CHINESE DWELLINGS IN AUCKLAND.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXI, Issue 196, 12 August 1895, Page 3

CHINESE DWELLINGS IN AUCKLAND.

INSPECTION BY THE HEALTH OFFICERS. STARTLING "DISCOVERIES. HOW OPIUM SMOKERS LIVE. Last week Dr Kmg, the Medical Officer of Health for Auckland city, and Mr Goldie, Chief Inspector of Nuisances, accompanied by a Herald representative who was passing at the time, paid a surprise visit to the Chinese colony in Wakefield-street, for the purpose of making an inepeo tion of the sanitary arrangements of the houses inhabited by the Chinese. Tbe houses occupied by some — such as for instance those who kept shops and were in d'reot trading relations with Europeans, and those living with their wives and families were found in as good condition as are premises occupied by the average colonial. Some, however, were discovered to be in a shockingly bad condition from a sanitary point of view, The back yards were covered with rubbish of all kinds and rotting garbage, while under onn houpe was a pool of black elime that must have been accumulating for a long time. 80 bad waß the state of things that •even in the open air the visitors were compelled to saturate their mouetachea with disinfectant in order to allow of their proceeding further. Some of the interiors of the houaeß were less inviting. Beds and pallets appeared to be everywhere. Tn what had been a one-storied structure and in an attic above the ceiling and under tbe shingles were several beds, while the living rooms presented a picture of undreamt of equalor and filth. Everywhere in this olass 0! house was an overpowering and nauseating smell of opium fumes so strong that Inspector Goldie had to have all the doors opened to let in fresh air before the rooms could be inspected, ard then all the party suffeted from nausea and severe headache for tbe rest of the day. Judging from what could be seen spium smoking and gambling seemed to be the chief, it not almost the only occupations. Though it was not then noon, the appliances for " fantan," etc., appeared all ready for use at any moment, while at least a dozen of the little lamps used for lighting the opium were burniog on the pallets on which the smokers recline, ready, with the pipes, for those who wanted to indulge in the habit. The party were able to witness the operations of lighting the pipes and tbe method of smoking, and the ultimate result — tbat result being tbe figure of a man, huddled under a lot of old clothes, insensible to the world. One Chinaman, who appeared to be in charge of one of the houses, took the visit very coolly, his only grievance being that the duty on the opiate was too high. The opium smoking, however, was not part of the misßion of the health officers, the object of tbe visit being to inspect the sanitary condition of the premises. The result was, that it was determined to at once take steps to at once condemn at least one of the dwellings as unfit for habitation, and proceed to force the occupants to pat the places into something like a sanitary condition. Di'King said of the houses of the olasa described, that they were in tne worst condition of any he had ever seen.