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JUST A WORD ABOUT THE
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"Do Luxo Saloon"
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Appalling Living Conditions of GRIN AND BEAR IT
HONGKONG'S POOR
By T. PAUL GREGORY
The "sky-rocketing” of rents to abnormal heights due to the
The World's Most Economical Ten influx of refugees from the war-torn areas of China, has brought to the fore the whole question of housing accommodation. This, in itsclf, is' an 'extremely serious problem for all those residents of the Colony who probably spond 20 per cent, for rent., But, nowhere is the situation fraught with more gruesome conditions than amongst the poorer classes of Chinese, who number perhaps 80 per cent of Hongkong's total population. In their case, the rasing of the rent is tragic; for it not only reduces their already Indepen-meagre standard of living but also increases the greatest evil of springing them all-over-crowding. In fact, the daily existence of the which changes, riding into glid-| masses: is ́in itself a series of successive crises to be solved in ing.
turn by a commendable display of individual pluck and fortitude.
The only "Ten" with dent front wheal
GARAGE
Stubbs Rd, Tel: 27778/9
Let us arrango for your Home Imagine a scale of living so low has divided up the rooms by erecting delivery purchase of a car of that the total Income of an entire paan-tseung or "wooden portition." remarkabic and sound qualifica- family does not exceed, sny $25 or The partitioning of the room results tions. Comprehensive facilities. | $30, and you have a picture of condi- in the forming of numerous small tlons which are customary to thou- cubicles each about 7 or 8 feet HONGKONG HOTEL sands of Chinese tollers. The ofeo square, He and his family (five worker with his two or three hundred Individuals in all), live in one cubicle dollars monthly, often finds it ex- on the ground floor. The partioned- ceedingly diMcult to make ends micet, off cubicles on each floor are rented but how about the fourthestate, out to sub-tenants. whose fixed income month after month and year after year is but a fraction of this amount? How they manage, and how about their familles? How, too, do they scrape along on the pittance that you or I thoughtlessly squander on a single evening's entertainment?
The
Hongkong Telegraph.
SATURDAY, MAY 14, 1938.
IS HONGKONG BOOMING? Despatches from Hongkong published in English newspapers tell of a business boom which this Colony is experiencing. It
do
In short. the house resembles a human
rabbit-warren more than anything else, and such NC-
with commodation
the distress- of ing shortage
houses now prevailing is
the considered by homeless refugee os particularly de- strable, and he counts himself for-
Cent, 1144 by Called Zusters Epošlenta, 108,
"You'll have to hang up, drar.
By Lichty
3042
You must think I have nothing to də but answer your questions all day!”
MR. PEPYS in
HONGKONG
May Gli-Up botimes and find a Creed and they tell us
this
that two
Let us consider just how these tunale if he can secure the shelter of dry fogge upon the Penke though it more staff officers of the King's Army really poor people live-and if any such noisome quarters at the exorbi-doe lift in pari while I break my be come. But for my part I had one of my renders should doubt my tant scale of rentals now in vogue.
fast, so that I may see the Aberdeen rather have one gasse-masque of my word he
reservoirs. And
cheers can verity
my own, or know that I could purchase every assertion to his own satisfaction by
heart for it was but yesternight I did one here were I so minded. To re- find mould upon my shoes that were hearsall at eight of the clock and set out in a cupboard, but I did chide Lord! how wee did work at it. Home
boy right heartily that he did not very late and so to bed. one wipe them over daily. To my office,
A. S. WATSON & CO., LTD. is quite true that the Sino-with facts and figuresmoot, but restricted to what is known
Have you
you inspected
our new
4' 3"
MINIATURE GRAND?
Listed at the moderate price of
$1,250.00 it is ideal for the small
home or flat.
(Torms by arrangement)
space
as ก
the
is
Once more
it is
Our
and
Bed-Spaces investigating for himself in the Another common form of tene- squalor of any Chinese tenement ment In the Colony, and section, be it in Wanchai, Salying which whilst extremely repre- travelling
by the eight o'clock 7th-Up very betimes and sorting pun, or Staunton Street neighbour- hensible from the standpoint of tramme, as is my custom, and after out my thick garments which I must hood, and gather enough data in half health and morality is the one my papers ore ordered I doe read in send to my taylor for cleansing and an hour to Al à dozen pages in which the accommodation is the newes-sheetes of this and that. thence to the Cold Storage, which to now that the bathing my mind alone can preserve clothes
hot
domp cilmato. poignant examples of the sacrifices of ch'ong-wai or "bed-space." This is doe haste to take their pets to the Thence to my office where I and a
season begins the owners of dogges in Japanese war has brought a these who must live on the border as the name indicates simply enough beaches, which to my mind is a very mighty irksome business, and I doe
line between slow starvation and space in a tenement floor for large measure of prosperity to
uncleanly business, a dogges habits most heartily wish they had never mero existence.
placing of a bed, which incidentally being what they are, and God knows built the new road to Canton. But doe finish Hongkong businessmen; there is
The typical Chinese tenement in is supplied by the lessor of the Apt our beaches none too clean as it is, by some means or other
At the Clubbe, more talk of the a little earlier than is my wont and scarcely a single branch of in-Hongkong has a frontage of about 15 at a rental varying from $1 to evictions but I would fain know if so to the Race Course where I take
depth of about 32 feet much, as $3 or more. dustry which has not benefited feet," and a
In those every man that hath reported his my nuncheon very merrily in Mr. where such and may have as many as four store tenements
is case by letter in the newes-shecto Caldbeck's box and a pretty lady on to some degree, and this benefit cys. In front there is invariably a offered, the rooms are ordinarily not ledge of the Colonial Secretary's good cheer 1 came no nearer to good. done as much for the imow- either side of mee. But for all our is shown in the annual state-kei-lau op verandah of about three partitioned off, but are simply Alled Office. And I trust this bee so for fortune than before, my sweepstake ments of company
feet in width. At the back there to over-flowing with plank beard Mr. J. Bram says the tenants case billets profiting mee nothing, and necounts is a corridor about Dve feet in width beds. Each is surrounded by an im- was not fully put to the late com- when I doe wager a dollar or two,
mission.
15 по which are published from time leading to the kitchen. A narrow provised curtain of cloth, and
use. And yet Tribule, a pony of which Mr. Caldbeck doth to time. It is also true that wooden stairway at one side of the separated from its neighours by A 6th-This day talking with Mr. own one or it may hee two hoover,
room leads to the apartment above. sort of alley-way of sufficient width Trick in the Clubbe he tells mer the comes home to pay
sixty some enterprises have felt the Each floor is but a counterpart of the so that the inmates of the floor may the offer of the Office of Works and over three hundred and forly. But Yacht Clubbe are minded to accept florins, and later a pony doth pay effect of increased operating one below.
about. Of course, what doe move shortly to Kellett Island. it is never my fortune to costs, which can also be at- The main room occupies the luggage is possessed by the sub- And as their present house stands one of these. The pretty lady who doo con- sate next me at nuncheon did win bed. surrounded by made land, tributed to the invasion of
of the building, that tenant is stowed beneath the is, about
15 feet, and is about Here, husband and wife may sleep did forget to ask him of the Bowling two hundred and thirty florins. And celve them to bee very wise. But I the daily double which did pay over China. But generally speaking 30
style of together with their younger children. Green, though I since heard they due be a mugge's game yet I doubt not feat deep. Such
all this wagering I don
doo perceive to these added expenses have been house was
doubt originally It the family
larger hope to continue it in use for possesses counterbalanced by rising re-
intended for occupation by, say, youngsters, an adjoining bed-space season certain and it may bee an- I shall continue in it. After the
other year or so. But the Clubbe rac back
races,
to the Snake afford it.
Pit with Mr. a family of eight or nine individuals may be rented it It can
House will bee built on the island A. Mitchell and his Ludy and there venues. If the Colony's pros at most. However, when the prin- However, in the majority of instances, and, as I learn, all racing start from we meet Mr. Abbolt and his and doe perity is to be estimated upon cipal tenant decides to sub-let, it may the familles are so poor that they there. Later come Mr. Povy and drink a glasse of the wine of Xerea,
be perforce transformed into a tene- cannot pay for the extra accommoda- the earnings of its big business ment" to accommodate from four to tion, and have to resort to the reat- establishments, its factories and nine families, or from fifteen to thirty Ing of a "mant-space" in some crowded came a premium and the rent ramp its transportation companies, as persons. would seem natural, it would be correct to assert that Hongkong was enjoying n boom. But it would be misleading, too, be
full width
110
answer
·
How is thle done the reader may ask? The
Is simple. The lessor who customarily pays the rent of the whole house to the landlord
move
corridor.
over
wager on
a fine Amontillado to which I am mighty partial, After I dined at Mr. Mitchell's house and a merry party became the order of the day.
and so home and to bed. Furthermore, in order to keep
Bili (Lord's Day),—Lay late, rend- The kitchen facilities in both types expenses down to the minimum, the Ing a booke as I lay in bed and, after of tenements are to say the least utmost economy must be observed. I had trimmed myself, to the garden. lamentable. The lessor, however, and the Chinese mother of the work And, albeit the sweet corn and the
when it provides a number of fung-lo or ing classes is a paragon
earthenware chatties and gach in- comes to domestic thrift. The marrows grow marvellously doe wish the Fo Wong had left the mate awaits his turn in using them. sung, or necessary adjuncts to the ground fallow as I am minded to lime Sanitary arrangements, too, are truly ubiquitous rice are limited to coarse it before the heavier rains come. cause the true barometer of the of such situations as these to Bathing, is a matter which, too, must salt fish, etc. The meals are plain to rehearsall and I think the plece nil. vegetables, a few bits of pork or This afternoon at three of the clock fact they shocking; they are usually
in Colony's prosperity is the spend-
test to the utmost degree, but the menu takes shape. Home to supper and tack on the price of rents and be carried out under one realises is always varied. The rice served inster I dee play a game of chicas with
handicaps, and when
of the
the cheapest kind, and the fuel Mr. Andrewos, at which he defeats if you will, of the mass of the living necessities. About the that
is the only place available for that la employed in its preparation is me. But I made it hard for him at
is justly seldom fire-wood but usually wood-
ing-power, or the earning-power,
the stench-ridden "necessary
root ging ablutions, he
In many cases, muk-hong or "sow-
9th-To the Clubbe for my morn-
people. But the fact that cer-only thing that hasn't gone Phocked and he is moreover amazed shavings from some carpenter's shop, one time. And so to bedi tain commercial houses are is the tram, bus and ferry fare." that under auch conditions, the lower is used, augmented on occasion Ing draught, where I do drinke a S. MOUTRIE & CO., LTD. making good profits, and some But he is probably not quite working seat tube looking as they by the pickings from the hill-sides- glasse of Hollands waters, at about
York Building
Chater Road.
Swan Culbertson & Fritto
Investment Bankers and Brokers in Securities, and Commodities Dally Now York and London Stock Exchange Service Commodity Futures on the principal American markets Members of
New York Cotton ExchanKO
Chicago Board of Trade
Winnipeg Grain’Exchange
Commodity Exchange, Inc., Now. York
Canadian Commodity Exchange, Inc.. Bonireni 'Now York Coffee and Sugar Exchange
Maulla Stock Exchange.
Correspondents for
Hayden, Stone & Co., New York and Boston
Telephone 30244,
J. E. Swan & Co., New York'.
Cable" Address SWANSTOCK Hongkong & Shanghal Bank Building, Hongkong.
Ofices: Shanghai, and Manlia
more than they have made in normal and his complaint there- do. yours, although it implies afore inaccurate, general prosperity, is really no proof whatever.
да classes to keep
Rent for cubicle Food (including rice, and allowing a daily average of eight cents per person for meals)
Clothing and Incidentals
$4,00
14..00
1.00
3.00
$22.00
the uke.
High Mortality Rate upon a visit. Thence to my office
of brushwood and one the clock and am mighty glad to greet my old friend Mr. J. Owen Hughes, lately returned to the Colony How They Make Ends
where I cat to my muncheon-a Nevertheless, a good many
Meet
There la one factor that one must piece of cold steak with radishes and people are puzzled by these It is interesting to consider in pass- bear in mind that in these tenements lettices from my garden, the last as
Colony
cach good as ever I eat in my life. But For example, the position of
ing just how the typical Chinese such as exist in the
and foul-smelling fear it is my last Bowing thờ the ordinary foreign
tales of Hongkong prosperity. family of the class we are discussing dark, sunless' wage-
endeavours to make ends meet. Let cubicle is the "house" of an entire weather and the ground being too carner has not altered for the They are prepared to admit that us suppose that the total income is family. Here in what is nothing hot. A dne day, and indeed since the around $25 per mensem, and that more than a mere eubby-hole some typhoon alarme the weather has been
dozen human beings live, very fair. better since the war. He was more business is certainly being there are in all five mouths to feed. half a
sleep; cook, and cat. Here, too, 10th-This night, when I doo re- children are born and here also hurt when the dollar was re-done, more concerns are estab. Here is the probable budget:
people dic. In fact, death, is a tre- turn to the Clubbe after the rehear
sall, I do hear that the Japanese duced in value by the resultant lishing themselves here and
quent visiter; for overcrowding under such lamentable conditions is have made good a landing upon cost of imported materials, such that Government revenues aro
the ideal breeding ground for disease. Amoy Island, and Creed tells me the Tuberculosis thrives in such ΕΠ at story most certainly is true. And I as foodstuffs, and the cost of buoyant, but they are still not
mosphero of
The doo heartily pray no harm may come repression.
to the Europeans in Kulangau. the Direc statistics issued weekly by the living has continued to climb, convinced that the situation has
tor of Medical Services are appalling. 11th-Up betimes and to my office and is estimated to have jumped altered to their personal benefit.
average of 103 people it where I am very busy, as is over the You will note that there is nothing An
stated die every seven days case in these troublesome days. To by between 25 and 40 per cent. Perhaps they should be ronind-provided for amusements, but the is
family by close figuring manages to from this plague, and the majority the Snake Pit for my muncheon for this average working for-ed that the "boom bubble" has put by two or three dollars every of them are inhabitants of these where Mr. A. Jay doth entertain two This estimate, it is Lords and their Ladies and all very eigner. His wages have not in-no guarantee of permanence un savings provide against the asserted is nearly 20 per cent, higher merry. But I am sud et heurt to
month for the proverbial rainy day. tenements.. creased. And although he may and that if commerce continues contingency of sickness, and also pro- than that figure prevalling at the hear the fighting at Amoy continues, have had a bonus, it was nothing to pront the payroll of the mother for the midwife's hire.
vides a fund in case of an expectant same time last year. The hordes of though I doubt the Japanese will
Homeless refugees from the stricken adventure no Invasion of the Main like enough to meet his addi- Colony may be adjusted. But One can readily perceive what the cause. Indeed, comment, is super- rovers cleowhere, but of this 1
cities of the mainland are indubitably land. Mr. Pavy whom I meet later says it is but to distract the Chinese. *After, allj tional expenses. If you tell this there should be no surprise if would happen the rent for their fluous
miserable cubby-holo wero increased, problem Hes on the Government. not fully informed, though it may bee man that Hongkong, is enjoying the wage-oarner were to anarl just how tragid that would be. It Conditions which were bad are be to provide some good news which
dance would bring down their already coming woren, and the spread of the may bee spread. In Japan. To te a trade boom he is apt to snarl again and ask: "Who is going tearfully low standard of lying in h seat of the war, to other centres, will hearsal this night and very busy on at you and any: "Yes, because to guarantee the adjustment?" unortunately Is just what is Havon de safely. This a problem by motor hackney and supped a bowl.
Pair Pencliently starvation' basis. But send further thousands here seeking a | Act. 111, which wee doe twice, Homo business people take advantage. That is unanswerable,
happening Sainca accommodation, be masisi mamentous in the extreme, `of'soup, and so to bedre WAY
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