NAPLES UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF PROGRESS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 13, 18 July 1884, Page 21

NAPLES UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF PROGRESS.

Along the Chiaja, facing the quays of Santa Lucia, on the great paved road which leads out to the suburbs of Portici, the broad street-way is bordered with palaces, villas, great houses and hotels. Mostly they face the sea; at the back of mtny of them are lovely and spacious gardens ; in the apartments of the first and second floon live the wealthy, the noble, the prosperous an* the enterprising part of the population. Of a large number of them the ground floor is constituted by cavernous arches, opening to the street by huge folding doors, or fitted up other-wise an shop?, magazines, factories, wine-couaters, trattorie, barbers' shops, or are inhibited by artisans. These, have neither light nor air, except wh\t they get from* the front. They teem with a swarming population of various grades of prosperity, poverty, industry, idleness and squalor. The front part is divided off by boarding or by a curtain, and constitutes the shop or factory, or living-room ; and in the back p irt is the sleeping accommodation. There is no provision of closets or for the disposal of refuse. An. upper room is frequently carved out, but only occasionally. Tbe larger part of the life of this molley population goes on in public, at tbe door or on the pavement. In one of these caveraoug abode* you may see a stable with a hor3e or mule, a shop, a bedroom with all its appurtenances, and in front a baker's shop or a general provision store. On. the pavement are groups of women knitting, washing, gossiping, rocking with the foot a baby in a rough cradle, seated on chairs ranged in a circle. Hair-combing appears to be a solemn operation, conducted only at intervals, performed most often in public, and accompanied by a sporting hunt for small deer. The hugh, elongated cess-pools, miscalled drains, without water to flush them, and choked with every kind of putrefying filth and street-rubbish, exhale, by gaping apertures, foul stenches, with which the whole air is thick. Past corners in which garbage is heaped up you rush with handkerchief to nose, only to notice ihat the spot is unconcernedly selected for spreadiug the family table in the open air for an evening meal, or that there is performed the family toilet. In this way the precincts of many of the palatial houses are inhabited and defiled. No spot is sacred, no corner clean ; no open space can be trodden without scrupulous vigilance. The rich and prosperous have tolerated the dirt and indecenoy so long that they pass everything with indifference, and seem to be unaware of the degrading caricature of civilisatioa whicn the street l.fe of Naples shows. Needless to say thiit this indifference breeds and accompanies other anomalies which would not elsewhere be tolerated. The tram companies are allowed to render broad and spacious avenues impassable for months ; and when they lay down fresh lines along the worn-out rails of the old tram-cour.se, they leave the roadway still in ruts, which tear off cart and caniage wheels impartially. The state of the great thoroughfare leading from Naples to Torre del Greco caa only be paralleled in Constantinople. The people live baid, are badly fed, ill-clothed, ill-paid ; they arc shameless and peisistent beggars, and, as to tbe greater number of them, cannot be trusted to name a fair price for any service which they render, or any wares which they sell. This is a serious indictment to draw ; and yet I am sure it is not framed with ill-will, or with any conscious exaggeration.— Ernest Haifc in italianTvmes.