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Mr. THURBURN. One of the things the Chinese complained about was that they were not allowed to leave the Colony. These arrangements were made later on. For instance, a wealthy Chinaman wants to be buried with his own people, and if he gets the plague he wants to get away. He does not care whether he dies or not but he wants to be buried with his own people.
Dr. ATKINSON.-That is a matter that concerns the Chinese themselves. I do not think the Government should call upon its medical men to give a certificate that people suffering from plague can be removed. All these patients, I understand, were in the Kennedytown Hospital or in the Glassworks Hospital and they would have to be removed from the Hospitals to a junk or ship. The Government, I understand, said that, before they would agree to the removal from the Government Hospitals, the patients would have to be medically examined, and they were not to be removed unless the medical officer thought they were fit to undertake the journey; and what I say is that suffering from a disease like the plague practically precludes removal from a medical point of view.
Mr. THURBURN.-If a man takes ill in his own house why should he not leave at once ?
Dr. ATKINSON.—Because it is the law that he must be isolated.
Mr. THURBURN.-He can be isolated.
Dr. ATKINSON.-Let him be taken away then, but do not call upon any Government officer to give a medical certificate that the patient is fit to be taken away. I think you will agree with me that it would be almost impossible for a medical man to say that a plague patient was medically fit to undertake a journey, say, to Canton. The medical man might examine the junk and see that everything on board was proper for the transfer of cases of this sort.
Mr. THURBURN.—The junk is supposed to leave every day. It is established as a regular system to allow Chinese who have got the plague to go away from the Colony if they wish to. At first during the plague epidemic they were not allowed to go away, and after much pressure was brought to bear upon the Government they were allowed to go.
Dr. ATKINSON.-By all means let them go to their own homes, but do not place the onus of certifying that they are fit to undertake a journey upon the medical officer. Lai-chi-kok could not be their home, however. They simply went over there to escape being under medical supervision in Hongkong. They went over there because they believed their eyes would be gouged out in the Hongkong hospitals. If removed at all it should only be on the understanding that they are taken at least twenty miles from the Colony.
Mr. THURBURN.-One reason why they went over to Lai-chi-kok was that if they died they would not be buried so deeply.
Mr. MCCONACHIE.-They objected to being buried with quicklime; but you are of opinion that you would permit plague patients to leave as freely as they liked without medical examination whatever.
Dr. ATKINSON.-Certainly; because it is simply removing a danger from the Colony, and the patients do so fully understanding the step they are taking. Of course, the patient does not understand, but his friends do.
THE PRESIDENT.--Do you think the removal should be under Government super- vision?
Dr. ATKINSON.-The Government ought to know how many cases are being removed, for the sake of statistics for one thing.