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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 1ST SEPTEMBER, 1894.
3. Your Lordship will have received my Despatches Nos. 115, 116, 121, 122, 123, 127, 128, 129 and 132, and my telegrams of the 18th May, 2nd, 4th, and 16th June, in reference to the epidemic which has been in existence in this Colony since- the beginning of last May.
4. At the risk of repeating some of the statements I have made in those com- munications it may be convenient to your Lordship that I should forward to you a narrative, disjointed though it may be, of the principal incidents that have occurred in connection with the plague during the last month.
5. On my return to the Colony from Japan on the 15th May, after 8 weeks' leave of absence, I found that Major-General BARKER, who had been administering the Government since the 30th April, owing to the sudden departure on account of illness of Mr. OBRIEN, the Colonial Secretary, had issued a proclamation on the 10th May declaring Hongkong to be an infected Port in accordance with the prov- isions of The Public Health Ordinance, No. 24 of 1887.
6. A Permanent Committee of the Sanitary Board, consisting of three mem- bers, had thereupon been appointed, and these gentlemen who, in conjunction with Dr. Lowson, Dr. PENNY, R.N., and Surgeon-Major JAMES, have since acted with extraordinary energy and efficiency, at once passed Bye-laws, and Regulations which I have already forwarded to you and which were without delay passed and confirmed by the Executive Council and ultimately legalized by the Legislative Council.
7. Hospitals were at once established (1) on board the Hygeia, (2) at Kennedy Town Police Station, (3) and, on the 20th May, at the Glass Works at Kennedy Town. The first two were managed by the Government doctors and the lady nurses from the Government Hospital, the latter was handed over to the Tung Wah Hospital Committee and worked by Chinese doctors under the super- vision of the Colonial Medical Staff and a Naval Doctor (Dr. PENNY). It was deemed advisable to give the Chinese doctors a free hand at first. In any case it is difficult to persuade the Chinese to report cases of sickness, and their foolish and violent prejudices against Western medical men are quite sufficient to induce them, as they certainly did for the first fortnight or three weeks of the existence of the plague, not only to secrete their sick but often to desert their plague-stricken friends and relations after death.
8. Under these circumstances the necessity for a vigorous house to house visita- tion became most apparent and the Military and Naval authorities, Major-General BARKER and Commodore BOYES, at the suggestion of the Government rendered every possible assistance in this direction. Naval and Military doctors were fur- nished and at least 300 men from the Shropshire Regiment, and officers and men from the Royal Engineers and Royal Artillery detachments were amongst others detailed for the duty of house to house visitation and for cleaning and disinfecting the houses in which cases of the plague had occurred.
9. At this time, about the 21st May, the greatest dissatisfaction was shewn by the Chinese community in regard to the methods of sanitation we were employing. Complaints were made that the privacy of women's apartments was being invaded, that women and children were being "frightened out of their wits" by the daily visits of the Military and Police, and then it began to be rumoured that the 'Foreigners" had sinister and unspeakable designs on the women and children.
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10. On enquiry I found that these complaints were much exaggerated and that the majority of the Chinese, after being made to understand what the object was which the Government had in view, did not object to the visitation but even assisted those deputed to search their houses and to disinfect and cleanse them when necessary. A large deputation of Chinese waited upon me nevertheless, requesting that the house to house visitation should cease and that they might take their sick away from the Hygeia and the Kennedy Town hospital altogether. As already reported in my Despatch of the 23rd May, No. 121, I had to inform these gentlemen in pretty strong terms that Hongkong was a British Colony and, as they had chosen to reside in it, they must submit to British laws and methods of sanitation, and further that, as I was responsible for the safety of the community, I must positively decline to listen to their requests. I further pointed out to them that as residents of Hongkong it was their bounden duty to aid the Government in the terrible crisis in which it was placed and not to obstruct it, or to allow their people to obstruct it, in any way whatever. Though the deputation, composed of wealthy and so called educated Chinamen, left Government House apparently satisfied, in a few days'