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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.
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' time defamatory and libellous placards were posted up in Hongkong and later on in larger numbers in Canton attributing the most ghastly cruelties to the Eng- lish doctors, charging them in fact with cutting open pregnant women and with scooping out the eyes of children in order to make medicines for the treat- ment of plague-stricken patients.
11. Your Lordship will find it difficult to believe that after upwards of 50 years' occupation of Hongkong, and after more than 50 years of benign, not to say paternal, Government, Chinamen residents in this British Dependency could be found who were ignorant enough to believe such statements, and treacherous enough to give them currency. Such, however, is unfortunately the case.
12. As there had been some opposition to the Police in the Chinese quarter the day previously, and these statements were likely to inflame the passions of the mob, I immediately requested the Commodore to anchor a gunboat opposite to the Tung