From Capetown to New Zealand.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 129, 28 March 1901, Page 3

From Capetown to New Zealand.

" By 0. A. Wilson. (Oontimed). In Melbourne everyone goes to see tlib Aquarium, and it is well worthy of a visit. Here one may look into the great glass tanks — rock-bound, and forming glass sides to rocky grottos —and see all kinds of fish in their element. To one who might be studying the dwellers of the sea nothing could be more helpful. The same remark applies throughout Melbourne ; you may go to the vast library, and obtain almost any known work in any language, and read it all day and night during the open hours. There are public organ recitals every Thursday in the Town Hall, museums, and every opportunity of advancement for those who desire to improve. themselVeS. Yet comparatively few out of avast section of the community even faintly realise the advantages lying at their Very doors. Familiarity in this, as in u most ,other cases, breeds contempt. The sight of the day at the Aquarium is the feeding of the seals. It is indeed a revelation to witness the grace of these creatures in the water. They have a deep enclosed pool, with winding slopes and little ledges from 10f'. to 16ft high, and they will wriggle quickly up the slopes, and then dive, with scarcely an audible splash, from this height in pursuit of the food that is thrown. Of course, the visitor has a peep at the slums —the little streets. These are only half a chain wide, and run parallel with the large, after which they are named. In several of them there are many large warehouses and manufactories, but the bulk of them is composed of low tenement ho :, ses, occupied by Chinese and by the scum of the city. To go with 'safety 7 into Little Lonsdale, Lurie Bumke, or Little L.itrobe streets at night one needs a good stick and several companions similarly armed. One might pass Cirougn many times in the middle oj ilio street without molestation, 'but the chances are against if. The chivalry of the slums is well exemplified by a sketch which appeared in Melbourne Punch the other day. In the background a policeman and a number of sympathetic bystanders were carrying off a limp and battered man, evidently lately well dressed. In the foreground a beetle-browed ’Arry was expl lining the situation to a ditto ’Arriet. “Huh,” he said, with lofty scorn, “ ten of us knocked ’im aht in two That’s the worst o 1 them bleedin’ torfs. they ain’t got no staminer.” However, a couple of us, no doubt protected by our uniforms, walked without molestation through some of the worst parts of the slums, Xu the Chinese tenements red banners, curiously lettered in gold, bung from balconies or adorned shop fronts. A small plate of pastry in a window evidently cloaked a gambling den, from which came the murmur of voices. Evil - eyed Celestials, and even more evillooking Europeans,slunk through the alleys and disappeared in the dens, whose doors shut fast immediately. But to my mind it did not seem as if the authorities exercised any control. In Little Bourke, as we were passing, a drunken fireman was being ejected from a low publichouse. He objected' to go, and the “ chucker oafi” was dancing on him. A policeman stood calmlylooking on. ,We joined him, and he told us he was powerless. These fights would take scores of police to suppress. All they had to do was to interfere when things got too bad. In these streets, he said, the criminal element was all-powerful, and if a constable made himself obnoxious lie-was promptly sandbaggld. Hence they kept quiet. TL-bmS sources- ' I learned ■that-even du¥i#g the plague scare sikne condemned houses were not; pulled down for fear of retaliation.

All through these places vice stalks triumphant, and the opium and gambling dens are yearly weaning many from the paths of rectitude. I have often regretted that opportunity did not permit me to go through the detis in the company of a detective; but, if what I saw in the streets is surpassed inside; it must be truly awful. We send missionaries to China to convert the Chinese, while we have them unconverted at our doors. There is, I suppose, some effort made to cleanse these plague spots, but is enough done irneomparison ? Of course, the £ir|| step would be to pulL down rbe rookeries, but pr we were %jruly earnest in ohr desire to cayry the Gospel to all nations, we %mld begin at home, and .in earnest. However, a prophet nut without honour save in his own country and amonghis own people, and who can blame these missionaries if they seek passing notice in distant lands. ,

(To be concluded.)