THE CITY OF SYDNEY. 





THE INTERIOR OF THE CENTRAL MARKETS. 



W.T* SM"I_*Y 



THE CENTRAL MARKETS. 



seen in a showman's booth, and the 

 sellers of boiled peas ply their trade 

 with vigour ; for peas are so much a 

 specialty in Sydney as chestnuts in Italy, 

 roast potatoes in England, and pea-nuts 

 in America. The Sydney larrikin may 

 be studied here enjoying himself in his 

 own peculiar way. Some of them are 

 shabby, though not from want of money ; 

 but others, amid all their vulgarity, 

 affect a certain degree of showiness in 



dress, accompanied with an evident self-consciousness of the elaborate style in which they 

 are got up. The physique indicates a preponderance of the animal, and the conversa- 

 tion is painfully overladen with profanity. They, with their female companions, take a 

 pleasure in seeing and in being seen ; promenading towards the city at times to turn into 

 one of those dancing saloons, or cheap music-halls, which of late years have greatly 

 increased in the city a consequence of the large amount of money which lads in 

 Sydney can easily earn, and which they like to spend in pleasure. 



Another metropolitan market is the older one in George Street on the northern side 

 of the Town Hall, adjoining the land on which lately stood the old City Police Court, 

 since condemned and pulled down. The market building is utterly unworthy of its posi- 

 tion or of the city, and its removal is only a question of time. It is at present a 

 disputed point whether the Markets ought to be reconstructed here. The site was con- 

 venient enough in early days, when Sydney was small, but it is altogether inadequate at 

 present. A position on the water's edge, or nearer to the Railway Station, would be 



