OPIUM-SMOKERS IN SYDNEY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 5938, 19 February 1881, Page 2 (Supplement)

OPIUM-SMOKERS IN SYDNEY.

(Sydney Morning Herald)

During the raids on the rookeries in the city some moat unlovely localities were visited. Occasionally dens of thieves, harems, and homes of larrikins were suddenly dropped upon, each of which was an aggregation of material and moral filth ; and the occupants would start to escape when they saw the face of a certain inspector, as rats do at the sight of a terrier. In nearly all cases the occupants were unprepared for an official visit, and while literally many were caught napping, excellent opportunities were provided for examining the condition of the tenements, and observing the habits of the persons who lived in them, but who, by the interposition of the law, will before long be forced into brighter, cleanlier, and healthier homes. In a few instances visits appeared anticipated, and consequently efforts had been made to hide cracks in walla, to patch up windows, and to cover well-worn, unsafe flooring with matting that had done service for many a long year. But for all this the professional eyes of the visitors quickly saw in the buildings defects which very promptly determined them to order them to be either repaired or pulled down. Surprise was frequently manifested at finding many buildings totally unfitted for human occupation crowded into the smallest possible areas, and provided with the most deficient means of ventilation and lighting. It was in. Chinese quarters, however, filth had accumulated in the greatest proportions; that the foulest smells were experienced ; that the largest numbers of human beings were congregated in the smallest spaces. Some of the Chinese dens were partitioned off in the manner of immigrant ships, each partition being occupied by three or four Celestials, or by a celestial and a white woman nominally his wife. Occasionally one nearly fell over little whity-brown children crawling over the floor, or gambolling like so many kittens. How their infantile constitutions bore the oppressive atmosphere, and the fumes of opium and tobacco smoke, without collapsing, and how their tiny frames escaped injury, was marvellous. No one seemed to know whose children they were. Most of the Chinamen smiled when it was attempted to fix the parentage on them, and declined the soft impeaohment. A white woman, who must once have been o^ graceful figure, fine proportions, and intelligent-looking, if not handsome, lay on one of the bunks as much a recluse from the outside world as any nun that entered cloister. Seminude, lost to self-respect, not caring who witnessed her depraved condition, and with her senses dulled by opium-smoking, she lay a pitiful illustration of what humanity may descend to. The sickly drug had transformed her from a sprightly girl into a being whose condition was worse than any drunkard's ; and now it seemed as though she waß past all redeeming influences, and would die a sickly, senselesß, mindless thing, not knowing or caring whether there was or was not a hereafter. It was dreedful to imagine this creature—once one jof God's fairest—passing into eternity, her brain excited by wild delirium, her senses reeling. It was equally appalling to conceive her awakening from her dreams and realizing the awfulness of her position. In the room in which she lay —it was only 10 feet by seven—there was at one end a Chinese bed, with a dirty torn rag hanging in front of it to answer the purposes of a curtain. In this a Chinaman lay who was also a victim to opium. Not far away, on another buok, a second female form divine lay prone under the influence of opium. She appeared as if she were in the last stase of opium poisoning, and when the visitors succeeded in partially arousing her she, too, seemed indifferent to her fate, looking round withadull, vacant purposeless stare, and lying down again in a manner that showed her frame to have been deprived of all its energy. Her eyelids were swollen, her flesh was dropsical in appearance, and her long black hair was unkempt, and hung in matted strings over her face and neck. Her hands trembled as though palsy had stricken them, but she managed with them to clutch the little tray containing implements for preparing the seductive drug for smoking, and as the visitors retired she laid herself out for another smoke. The effects of opium on human constitutions seem various in their character. Some individuals who suffer from them become mere shadows of their former selves, whilst others develop a dropsical appearance, their eyelids becoming swollen, and their flesh puffy* You will find the victims where they are least expected to be—in garrets and in cellars dimly lighted, and in sheds that a parish cur would fly from with disdain. In one instance the the visitors crawled into a garret they they thought untenanted, but which they found occupied by a Chinaman and a, white woman. Here, too, were implements

generally used by opium-smokers—a tray, the bamboo stems with their clay bowls, steel prickers for clearing the bowls, and a tiny lamp burning under a broken bottle. The woman was disturbed before she had completed her toilet, and therefore was not in a veiry presentable condition. Little she cared, however, for appearances. Naturally phlegmatic, the use of opium had increased her indifference to circumstances transpiring around her, and she did not heed the presence of strangers in the slightest degree. Her life seemed to have become purposeless, and it also seems that she was too indolent to dress. The Chinaman, who spoke kindly enough to her, said, " She got plenty clo, all li, but no puttee on " ; and, going to a large box, which he opened, he showed a collection of clothing he had recently obtained clean from a laundress. Such are sights obtainable in " dear old Sydney."