SIGHTS OF SYDNEY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 20 June 1907, Page 4

SIGHTS OF SYDNEY.

PADDY'S MARKET. Writes the Rev. F. G. Brooke, from Sydney:— Paddy's market on a Saturday night is supposed to be one of the sights of Sydney, consequently the visitor frequently gravitates there. Rumors of the place and its denizens had been more than once recounted, and the jade stated that it was unsafe to move about there with valuables in your possession or a good coat on the back. Fortunately it was possible to visit the place under the wing of the City Clerk and the Clerk of the Markets. Before setting out, the precaution was taken to discard the parosnic coat, hat and tie. To a man who prides himself on his regimentals this is a somewhat severe tjsk. A popular exPresident, who passed the chair some years ago, and was one of the party, had to confess he had not nppeared in public without his white choker for nearly a quarter of a century. After borrowing a butterfly collar and a colored tie from his host he retired to his room to dress. After spending sometime in this operation, he appeared with one end loose, and a (lushed face.' Either his fingers were all thumbs, or the unaccustomed method of dress had paralysed his capacity, or he simply did not know how to dress. He could neither make the ends button, or lock, or fasten, and could have solved a knotty problem in theology ■ < nhan get ready to visit Paddy's Market. With regard to the writer it was very different. Long years ago he found his difficulty was to persuade people lie was a parson at all. and some Methodists were shocked at his want of conformity to custom. When received into the ministry he never took kindly to the garb. The long coat and box hat are all right on state occasions, but he much preferred to knock about his circuit on a bicycle in a cap and knicker-boekers. It was not therefore a difficult thing for him to get into a suitable disguise. A plum-colored tie was substituted for the book muslin, and he would then have passed for anybody but a member of the "cloth." Of course the fortunate possessor of a gold albert dangling on his ample proportions had to stow thai away. To go into such a region sporting jewellery of such a nature was tempting Providence, and deservedly exposed the wearer to the danger of loss. Long before visiting this haunt, of the poor we had learned that Sydney had a white elephant in one of its markets on which it was making a large annual loss. Enquiry elicited the fact that it was not "Paddy's Market." It has a much more sounding title than that, for it bears the name of the great and good Queen Victoria. It covers a whole block in close proximity to the Town Ilall. It is a very handsome structure, with a magnificent dome in the centre of it, and cost close on half a million to build. At the present time it costs the city €BOOO per year over and above its revenue, and before the present City Clerk took office the annual loss was nearly twice that amount. Paddy's Market is a much less pretentious place so far as appearances go. but it covers more ground, and is in the centre of the city. It has an income from rents of over £IO,OOO per year, and renders a profit of £2OOO. It is therefore a splendid city asset.

When we rwclied 'the markets, for there are two of them, we found tliem literally crowded with a moving mass of humanity. It was not, however, the humanity we had expected to sec. While it was evident we were in the place where the poor congregate, it was not the poor in rags. The crowd was comfortably dressed and to all appearance clean. It was also good-humored and orderly. There was not the slightest trace of larrikinism, and the romur that it is the haunt of thieves was apparently a libel. Often the old proverb, ''(Jive a dog a bad name, and then hang it," has come to mind. At one time thieving was rampant, but better management and stricter oversight have purged the markets of such unwelcome associations. Two constables in plain clothes are always on duty in the buildings, and it may be to this fact that much of the improvement is due. A detailed inspection of the stalls and their wares revealed the fact that a large percentage of. the business was "second-hand," Imt this was by no means its chief characteristic. Almost everything in the matter of food and clothing was on exhibition for sale, and there was a distinctly "Cheap-Jack" atmosphere about both the dealers and their method. A large proportion of those in charge of the various stalls were women, while a few were Chinamen. Two of the women were pointed out as the European wives of these almond-eyed Asiatics. In one of the markets ijuite a large section of the traders were of the Chinese variety. One of tin; sigliis was to see tile large number of people getting their penny suppers. There they were, men women and children sitting together around the coveted delicacies and feasting on pigs' feet, sheep's trotters, and such things. Many, too, were satisfying the craving of Dame Nature with a conglomeration that it was impossible to describe, but all seemed grist that came to the mill. The iee cream stalls commanded special attention. There it was that "Any and bis best gal" were much 'in evidence. Another crowded centre of life was tile place where two large bull ers of fat were last browning the potatoe chips, which passed in equally rapid siieei'ssion in paper pukes to the multi turlcs of consumers. Hut it mattered not where the pcm.'es wen!, all seemed satisfied with the transaction and all seemed happy.