WANGANUI WASHERIES.

NZ Truth, Issue 108, 13 July 1907, Page 6

WANGANUI WASHERIES.

LO ! THE POOR HEATHEN.

How Many Cubic Feet Per Chow?

A Dirty, Disgusting State of Affairs.

Is it good for the public health to send articles to be cleaned at a Chinese laundry? At Wanganui, m. one Chow washery at least, it is decidedly unwholesome and dangerous to the community to do so. There is nothing, perhaps, so liable to receive the sportive microbe— barring perhaps the city's milk supply— as the ordinary clothing used by man, and woman, tooj for that matter ; and the large number of people who send their togs to the Chow's modest hell have no idea what atmosphere the wearables will be hanging m when they get there. The different variety of microbes the singlet and chemise may have picked up during their temporary absence is known only to the Omnipotent, and i;fc is probable he would not tell, even if pressed for the information. A Wanganui reporter recently accompanied, a Health Department Inspector on a surprise visit to the Chow laundries m Campbell Place. The Yellow Agony had evidently been at work early, for all of the articles, including lingerie belonging to some of the most utterly-uttah members of WANGANUI'S WEALTHY SNOBBERY had already been put through by the meek and horrible yellow person, who finds the washing process an excellent method of cleaning his nails of the filth acquire!) at last night's fan-tan and opium-pipe party. The things were hanging from clothes-lines around a coke stove m a small .low-ccilinged room, the atmosphere of which was dry as that of a brick-kiln; and reeked with assorted odors. In an adjoining room the washers were passing the time between washing and ironing m. a game quite strange to the innocent reporter, but it was probably not a lawful one. This apartment,- like the drying room, was small, low, and un ventilated, and the atmosphere was so thick that a knife would pass through it with difficulty. Those who [ love the Chow might with profit regard him from the view point of his service to the community as a ; whole. Nearly every white man tabes a wife and a house of his own, and incurs family responsibilities. By so doing he does his ' duty to the community, and supports many people, from the landlord down— but beling of ■ a democratic disposition "Truth" begs to alter the observation to "from the landlord up." The single white man, by reason of his singleness, has more money to spend and' spends it, but the Chow herds into the smallest possible space, lives on bare necessaries, and is no good to anybody. He is bad for everybody. The Wanganui scribe remarks :— "That the Chinaman is not particular as to the amount of air space was soon made clear. Each of the bed room 6is small, low, and unventilated. There are windows to be sure, but, judging by appearances, many a day has passed since they were opened, or, indeed, touched, for dust is thick upon them. The paper on the walls is hanging loose, and bears evidence that such a thing as a duster is unknown on the premises. Roof aud walls are simply covered with a thick coat of dirt, the accumulation of — well, hardly ages. The centre of the floors, it must be admitted, are clean, but the sweepings are preserved m heaps along the edges. In no way does the sleeping accommodation meet the requirements imposed upon Europeans. In one" room, i providing about 600 cubic feet of air — the amount which should ' be allowed one man— are three beds, while another cupboardlike box is the bedroom of another man." This sort of thing permeates the whole establishment. There isn't the slightest ventilation anywhere, and when over 50 Chinamen crowd into the laundry at night and exhale variegated unpleasantness, the atmospheric state of the laundry must be unexampled. Apart from the dust on the walls and its ACCUMULATED MILLIONS OF MICROBES, wearing apparel has to take its chance m vitiated air, charged with sudden death to animal life. A shirt washed by a Chow is only apparently clean ; it may be reeking with germinal life, and it is up to the authorities, not only m Wanganui, but m every place where Chow sud-shops defile the landscape, to ensure that common cleanliness is observed m 'establithments where the community's clothes are cleaned. Doesn't the Factories Act deal with it, anyway ? Local authorities are urgently recommended to send their inspectors to these pestiferous dens, where the clothes of their wives and sisters and brothers are exposed to unknown terrors. They, will thus lower the death-rate m their own different localities ; also they will raise the birth-rate by preserving to the community an increased number of ■race-getters. If they could induce the ' public to boycott the Chow, they will have still further increased the birth-rate by putting a white marrying man m the place now occupied by a heathen, who has his apoligists. Appears that the publication of the .Wanganui reporter's plain observations had a disastrous result on the trade of all the unsneakablc pig-tailed persons, and one. Yee Yuk, m particular, expressed his anguish so painfully that "A customer," who probably owes for several weeks' Washing, wrote to the local paper pointing out that Yee Yuk's hell . ' WASN'T THE PARTICULAR HELL mentioned m the reporter's remarks: Yee Yuk is evidently an extensive advertiser, for the paper hastened to say, m a foot-note to the letter, that Yee Yuk's hell was a- most desirable' Shnol, and was much removed m awfulness from the terrible establishment which had caused the reporter pain. Now, probably, the trade which was about to be taken from all the slit-eyei'. persons and given to some hard-woricing white women, will be diverted to Yee Yuk, who will employ his unsanitary compatriots to do the wash-board business, and joy reigns supreme a-Z?j-jx m th? Ceksiial brc-asti