TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 922, 15 March 1930, Page 10

TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN

ALARMING DISCLOSURES IN SYDNEY AUCTION SALES HELD Alarming disclosures were recently made to a Sydney newspaper by woman who has an intimate knowledge of Sydney’s underworld, concerning the alleged auctioneering of youjS Sydney girls to Chinese. The woman was most emphatic tha* trafficking iu white women is beins conducted in Surry Hills and other parts of the city frequented by the backwash of humanity. She declared that girls, whose age* generally ran from 17 to 19 or 2i w ere sold in privately appointed “auction rooms” to Chinese—principal!, gardeners who live on the outskirts of the suburbs —and that the :auctioneer” was a half-caste Chinese w ho made his appearance round Surry Hills about a year ago. The girls, she alleged, were willing parties to the nefarious business, b*" cause they made good money, aud she described them as “the flash vulgar, irresponsible type of flapper who would sink to any level.” In recent months white women have been found in Chinese quarters round Sydney; and within the last few days there was a case at Dubbo connect ing young girls with Chinese. “Just for Fun” T know of one girl of IS who ad mitted to me she had been through the auction room ‘just for fun,’” the woman declared. “She went out to Botany, and when she returned to the city she had £52.” “Definite information given me," she continued, “is that girls have been auctioned somewhere in Surry Hills. The girls were not taken there —they went voluntarily. “A number of Chinese were there, and all of them wore slippers. “The girls also wore slippers. Outside, other Chinese kept watch. The place, I am told, was some kind of a business house kept by Chinese. Price Agreed Upon “From the description given me Oi the proceedings, I would say it is more of a deal or bargain than an actual auction. The ‘salesman’ speak> quietly to the Chinese, and a price is, agreed upon, and the money paid over. “I have also been told,” the woman added, “that certain girls have left Sydney and gone to Chinese in the country. “The first I heard of it was last. June, when I made inquiries about a girl wha had gone away from Surry Hills. “It was when I was ‘beating about,’ that the suggestion was made that perhaps ‘the girl had gone through the auction room.* “A little later I was told what waj going on, and that the half-caste Chinese had started the business, and was making good money.” To strengthen her story, the woman, who said she was a Tasmanian by birth, but had lived in Sydney for 20 years, declared she had never known so many Chinese knocking about Surry Hills.