WELLINGTON'S CHINATOWN.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVIII, Issue 2859, 30 June 1896, Page 2

WELLINGTON'S CHINATOWN.

Plague Spots of Asiatic Vice in Our Midst. DIRT, OPIUM SMOKE AND VEGETABLES. What a New Zealand Times Reporter Saw on a Midnight Round. That the Chinese have a well • defined quarter of their own in this city, mono- - polise the vegetable and fruit industry, and can receive as much as or ■£sooo credit in certain establishments in Wellington, is well established, and the claim of certain parties, that the Chinese population among us is insignificant, utterly falls to the ground. The Chinese are here, and are a power in Wellington, and the proposed legislation which seeks to prohibit their increase is not a moment too soon. The European races have found it impossible to live side by side with Asiatics in countries where the latter have got a foothold. The United States found it necessary to exclude Chinamen altogether; but even with this legislation it has become notorious that the Chinese smuggle themselves into the country on forged certificates, and other ingenious and illegal means, in which they are adepts, and the United states has found it necessary to make special laws to meet this surreptitious influx. Wherever Chiuamen are settled in numbers, both BUSINESS AND MORALITY, as Europeans understand them, become destroyed, and in their case the goodoldj maxim that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of euro comes in very appropriately. For some time past the New Zealand Times has been in receipt of letters from parents —both fathers and mothers—appealing to this paper to expose the dens of infamy and vice in our midst, in which boys and girls have been ruined. Some of these letters have bean most heartrending in their terms of appeal, and give facts, obtained from those young victims of the Chinamen, which go to show that the Chinese question is one that demands PROMPT AND PRONOUNCED TREATMENT. There is in the Te Aro district a headquarters for Chinese lotteries under the cloak of a shop, whore boys nud girls are employed in peddling lottery tickets among the poorer people. This is the recruiting ground for Chinese victims. Little girls are brought to Chinese opium dens, and their ruin is the inevitable result. Boys aro also brought there with similar consequences, and we have among us youths under 20 years who must, however they get the money, have two or three shillings’ worth of opium to smoko in 24 hours. Last week among letera received was the following:— SHOCKING CONDITION. Sir,*"—l noticed a few days ago, in the New Zealand Times, a reference to the Chinese dena in this city, and knowing some small facts in point, hasten, for the purpose of assisting you, to reveal them. On the 20th August, 1895, Andrew Kennedy, of Dunedin, was charged with the murder of Louie Smith in a Chinese den in Haining street. The evidence adduced showed a frightful state of immorality, it being tho custom for young women to enter the dens in tho evening, and remain till the small hours of the morning. Louie Smith was once a respectable girl living with her parents. She got to know the Chinese of Dunedin in their shops there, and when she came to Wellington she was met by a Chinaman who persuaded her to call and see him in Haining street. Before and up to this time she was a singularly prepossessing girl, though the insidious nature of the drug she had tasted in Dunedin had left its fell traces. When ah© got into this hell she signed her death warrant, lor she never left it alive. Brandy by day and opium by night were tho offerings of the “meek and innocent yellow devils.” Soon she become careless as to her dress, and more careless of her morals, and one Chinaman was as good as another—or as bad. Later on, while UNDER THE INFLUENCE OP THAT POTENT DRUG, SHE WAS BURNED TO DEATH. The evidence of medical men at the trial showed that for the space of some days previous to her death Louie Smith was drinking heavily, and the evidence of the- Chinamen called by the Crown showed that it was her practice with other girls to smoko on an average 10 or 12 pipes per day. There are other instances that I could point out just as sad and quite as deplorable. There aro opium dens in town now where Europeans regularly resort for the indulgence of this abominable practice. I am afraid that any newspaper efforts cannot eradicate tho fast-growing evil, but it may tend to awake public attention, which is generally apathetic in matters of common weal. If you wish to learn more, obtain the services of one of our detectives, and you can yourself visit those noxious abodes of vice. I have given you shortly the facts of a real live instance, and can furnish a full copy of the evidence taken if you so desire.—-Yours truly, “Vindex.”—Wellington, Juno 29th, 189 G. A TIMES REPORTER’S INVESTIGATIONS. With the object of accurately placing before the publio some idea of the condition of tho homes of tho Chinese of Wellington, and what goes on in them, a New Zealand Times representative took part in a visit early on Sunday morning to what is generally looked upon as the Chinese quarter of the city. The party consisted of an official who has the right of entry, a Justice of tho Peace, and the New Zealand Times representative, The clock had just chimed 1 as we entered a narrow passage leading from tho street, and made our way to tho back part of the promises. Silence without, and silence within. Aknock at tho gate and the “ raid ” had begun. “ Hullo, who there ?” in broken English came from withiq. “ It’s all.rigjit John, it's Mr —“ Allee light, you come in.” The gate was opened and we entered the promises. There was no formal introduction, our official guide merely remarking that he had brought a few friends with him. “ Welly good.” In the first room we entered, kitchen, a yoqng Chinaman, who, didn’t appear to take mqch notice of us, was cleaning and washing a plucked fowl; anqther fowl was hanging up. Before entering the next room we observed t}iat there wag

more like a peep hole—from which anyone inside could see jf anybody was approaching from the back part of the premisgs. Xu this room were six sons of the moon. Two were playing some game with dominoes, and another, who was reclining on what appeared to be a bunk near the ceiling, was smoking opium. This place wd were assured was the don whore the Chinese most do congregate and gamble. On one occasion as many aa 40 or 50 of them have been seen in this room. It was evidently an off-night on Saturday. A request that wo shoqld go. upstairs was readily agreed to. There was nothing to complain of h e ro. Crossing the road the guide took ua to another small house. In response to our application for admission we were told in fairly good English to‘‘Come in.” The doqp' was unlocked, wo entered and found the room thick \yiTH THB fumes op opjubj, with its disagreeable arao}j, Chinaman was lying on the bed with an ‘ opium-lamp and pipe beside. Ho welcomed us, and wont on preparing the troacly-looking drug. When the opium was sufficiently cooked it was pressed into the peculiar-looking pipe with a thin piece of wire, the smoker put the pipe to his mouth, then there was a gurgling noise as he inhaled the fumes into his lungs. After this puff, puff, and clouds of smoko poisoned the air. Our senses received a shock hero. On the floor lay a stupefied Chinaman, cadaverous and hideous looking, who appeared as if he had been a stranger to soap for months, and within a yard or so of the boot there was a pile of cabbages, carrots and turnips. Paugh ! IT WAS SICKENING to think that at sqrne time ut another we had eaten vegetables which had been lying oh a mud-stained floor, and well dried in opium smoke. The kitchen was a poky little place, and there was a general air of dirtiness and untidiness about v it. In the next place visited—a small house, which was as dirty and as untidy as the last—there was one Chinaman. Ho was ‘stirring ; something in a large boiler on a blazing Are. Asked what it was, he said Cham,” We didn’t ask whether it was raspberry or plum. Several other houses were visited, and in all of them the same condition of things prevailed. Dirty, unswopt floors, which had apparently never been washed. THE LAST HOUSE VISITED was the most thickly populated of the lo.t. There were seven rooms in itj and wq found in all about 14 or 15 Chinese. Throe or tour of them were sleeping upstairs in rooms not largo enough to stying a cat in, at least not with any convenience to the cat. There wore one or two smoking opium. In every house visited there were Chinese smoking opium, ample evidence that they love the drug as they love nothing else. There they rocuned in silence. First-one would have a draw, and then pass it on to his companion. There was a great fire blazing for the purpose of keeping a sick compatriot warm,. What with’ the* heat and the smell of th e opium we were glad enough to breathe the fresh apr again. Thera were, hero packets of lottery tickets. These lotteries are run on a small scale, are extensively patronised, especially by Chinamen, but many are sold all over the Te Aro district.'

While in this house we heard a woman's voice in one of the back rooms. We were not allowed to eater, bat our guide explained that the woman—a white one—was the wife of one of the men living in the house. The conclusion of the inspection of this house brought the raid to an end. One house was pointed out to us where white women and young prostitutes were visited by Chinamen and Europeans foe Immoral gurpqqeq. Sqqh a vilq blqt qq a cqmntunity should be at once rooted out by the' authorities.' Decency prevents the picturing of this hideous feature of Wellington's Chinatown.