New Plymouth

[NZBC]

FILTHY CHINESE. A GREENGROCER'S ASSISTANT PUBLIC HEALTH ENDANGERED

NEW PLYMOUTH, This Day. Yesterday, at the S.M._ Court, Ah Wing, employee in a Chinese greengrocer's shop, was charged with committing breaches of the borough by-liws relating to the storage of food for sale. The evidence disclosed an offence of r.n unusual and filthy nature. An inspector kept watch and found Ah Wing using as a urinal a box containing water in which vegetables were washed. The inspector said he regarded the offence as one which involved particular danger to the community, as it was liable to cause the spread of typhoid. A plea of guilty was entered. The Magistrate described the whole act as extremely filthy, and fines on the two charges amounting to £11 were impose Assn. Northern Advocate , 11 February 1922, Page 5

[NZBC]

AN ODOROUS ORIENTAL

Chow's Champioa Corruptness

Caught Contaminating His Cabbages.

(From "Truth's" New Plymouth Rep.)

John Chinaman is known as a peaceable, law-abiding citizen, generally sober, honest and affable. John may be all. these things, but there is no denying that he lacks the essentials of cleanliness m the privacy of his own boudoir. His fruit and his collars are always neatly arrayed m, his shop, but the dull heavy atmosphere of dirt— dirt and mystery in■cvitably haunts his premises, giving hint that behind that mysterious, dirty curtain hiding -the door leading to interior darkness beyond, behind that closely-boarded grimy window, John revels m- his beloved dirt. But, again, there is dirt and dirt. No one will begrudge John his musty dirty kitchen and bedroom providing they are kept m a state of reasonable dirtiness— that stage of uncleanness that will cause the Sanitary Inspector to frown but will not provoke a blue paper. But when John Chinaman is discovered f> PURSUING THE FILTHY

PRACTICES that were revealed during the hearing of a case at New Plymouth last week, it is time to seize John by his yellow ear and boot it m to him with the heaviest fine allowable by Statute. In fact, gaol would be too clean for him.

Couched ln the respectable phraseology of the Court, the charge l against the defaulting Chinaman m question, one Ah Wing, was that "on February 1 he used a receptacle intended for the storage of 'food for sale for purposes likely to contaminate the food and affect its wholesomeness or cleanliness,, and further with failing to keep the receptacle clean and free from odors." i This sounds innocent- enough, but just wait till you hear what it really means as conveyed by the evidence.

Mr. R. Day. the local Sanitary Inspector, was the gentleman who caught Ah Wang m the, act. Apologising for the fact that the information did not disclose the seriousness of the offence. Mr. Day explained that there, was no cnarge. that would adequately describe the offence, for being a civilised country it was never ex^ pected that such exrtemely filthy behavior would ever occur. Defendant, continued Mr. Day, was the manager of a small shop m Devon Street, opposite the A.M:P. buildings. At the rear of the premises Ah Wing had two boxes connected with .each other by a pipe and trap. Mr. Day heard that these boxes were being used by Ah Wing m certain emergencies as the spirit moved. Mr. Day accordingly selected a suitable.- point oi; vantage from the next shop. He had not long to wait. Shortly Ah. Wing came out m a bit of a hurry. He thoughtfully moved aside some, cabbages from one' of, the boxes and then urinated Into the box. Ah Wing's thoughtfulness did not, however, lead him to remove, some lettuces from the water In the other box. As soon as the deed was completed Mr.-, Day hurried into the Chinaman's shop and brought rosy blushes on to Ah Wing's I yellow face when he told him he had CAUGHT' HIM IN THE ACT. "Qui' all li." explained Ah Wing, "Plenty of water."

No doubt there was, but Mr. Day did not hesitate to immediately lay an information.

Mr. A. A. B.ennett had something to say for the Chinese concerned m the case. He could have hardly' pleased his clients when he said that no one but a Chinaman would have been guilty of such an act. Ah Wing, however, was not the. manager of the shop where the littlo indelicacy took place. _He was only an assistant. The owrier7Ah Ping, was the real sufferer, fbr during the last few days he might have had his shop shut altogether, for no one came near it. Which shows that vthe good folk of New Plymouth are at least very discriminating. Ah Wing would have to go that very day. Ah Ping had made up his mind about that.

Magistrate A. M. Mowlem, with a disgusted look on his face, declared the whole case was. "very filthy. He would like to believe counsel that such behavior was limited to Chinamen, but from his experience he was sorry to think otherwise. After moralising about the danger to public health caused by Ah Wing's filthy behavior, his Worship imposed fines of £10 and £1 on the respective charges- paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZTR19220218.2.21&cl=search&srpos=34&e=-------100--1----0chinese+fruit+shop+new+plymouth--&st=1 NZ Truth , Issue 847, 18 February 1922, Page 5

[NZBC]

An insight into the takings of a Chinese fruit shop 'in New Plymouth was given at a bankruptcy meeting recently (says the "Taranaki Herald"), when Leon Ting, reading from a cash book, kept in Chinese, stated that for the week ending November 10 (November not being a good month for retail business in New Plymouth) his takings were £66 17s. He acknowledged that his revenue had been seriously affected since the employee, a fellow countrymen, had been fined for committing an act that reflected on the cleanliness of the Celestials.Northern Advocate , 11 December 1923, Page 3 paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NA19231211.2.6&cl=search&srpos=51&e=-------100--1----0chinese+fruit+shop+new+plymouth--&st=1

[NZBC]

FRUIT! FRUIT! FRUIT! TO-MORROW. NEWTON KING "Will sell by auction at his Mart, on Tuesday, February 6th, 100 BOXES FRUlT— consisting of Apples, Plums, Tomatoes, Pears, Grape, Lemons, Peaches. Taranaki Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11789, 5 February 1900, Page 3 paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=TH19000205.2.24.5&srpos=3&e=-------100--1----0vegetable+fruit+auction+taranaki--