(4.) To consolidate and amend the laws relating to Stamp Duties. (5.) To provide for the Registration of Medical Practitioners.
(6.) To regulate Prisons and Prisons Discipline.
(7.) To amend the Dangerous Goods' Ordinance, 1873.
(8.) To amend the Preservation of Birds' Ordinance, 1870. (9.) To amend certain Ordinances relating to Criminal Procedure. (10.) To amend the law relating to the punishment of criminals.
(11.) To amend the Bankruptcy Ordinance of 1864.
(12.) To regulate the Post Office and Postal Service.
(13.) To amend Ordinance No. 10 of 1867.
(14.) To provide for the more effectual protection of Chinese female
children.
10. The report of the Commission on Smuggling; and an able and exhaustive memorandum by Mr. Justice RUSSELL on the so-called Blockade of Hongkong by Chinese Revenue Cruisers are recommended to your attention. I have discussed this important question with the present British Minister at Peking, who will, I am confident, lend his aid towards carrying out an equitable settlement.
11. Turning to the vital subject of the Public Health, I am glad to in- form you that the recent organisation of a Government Sanitary Board under Ordinance No. 7 of 1883, and the promulgation of new Rules and Regulations
under that Qrdinance, together with the introduction of improved contracts for the removal and disposal of waste products, have been followed by a marked improve- ment in the practical sanitation of the Colony. Much however remains to be done, both in respect of legislation and of structural sanitary work; but I am confident that the necessary reforms and improvements will in due course be effected by the zeal and ability of the officers to whom this branch of the Public Service has been entrusted, and by the cheerful acquiescence of all classes of our population in such measures and restrictions for the safety of the Public Health as may, with your assistance, become law. In this connection, Bills are in course of preparation to amend and consolidate the laws relating to the Public Health; to amend the Building Ordinance No. 8 of 1856; to regulate the Water supply, and to prevent waste. Owing however to the large and comprehensive nature of these Bills, no less than to the probable necessity of referring certain technical points to scientific authorities in England, it is possible that there may not be time for their full consi- deration during the present session. In this event, they will form the subject of your first deliberations in the next session. In the meantime, however, the carrying out of such works as were deemed of immediate importance to the Public Health has been sanctioned. These works, which are either in progress or in course of immediate initiation, include, among others, the Reclamation of unhealthy tidal lands at Yau-ma-Ti and Causeway Bay; Extensions and improvements of the existing system of sewers in this city; the construction of a new Central Market; the erection of a permanent Lazaretto on Stone Cutters' Island; the systematic dredging of the noxious foreshore along the Praya by means of steam machinery; and the general Sanitation of the villages in the Colony.