133
influenced both the Board and the Government in this postponement of the opera- tion of the bye-laws in question. Nor, on the expiration of the stipulated period of suspension, was the Board found less averse to the assumption of the responsibility of delaying the enforcement of its own regulations against overcrowding, for at its request the date of the operation of these bye-laws was again deferred by the Legis- lative Council-with what result this policy has been attended your Excellency is, unhappily, only too well acquainted. The responsibility for this failure to carry out one of the most essential requirements of the Public Health Ordinance seems to be divided between the Sanitary Board and the Government.
The legislative steps would seem to have been wisely taken, but they were allowed to fall into abeyance by a lack of prompt administrative and subordinate action.
It has generally been understood, and there is good reason for believing the statement, that the Sanitary Board has been well served by its inspectors, who have not failed to report upon the insanitary condition of the City, and therefore the Committee do not wish it to be supposed that they imply any censure of these inspectors. Indeed, it has been frequently stated-and the Committee pray your Excellency to investigate the statement-that the Sanitary Board had numerous reports and complaints in reference to sanitary matters. In the interests of the public this allegation should, in the opinion of the Chamber, be thoroughly sifted, and information be afforded to the public as to what action was taken by the Board in each case brought to its notice.
With regard to the drainage of the City, there is a wide-spread belief-but the Chamber has no means of verifying it-that the scheme, as drawn up by Mr. OSBERT CHADWICK, endorsed by Mr. J. M. PRICE, the late Surveyor General, and approved by the Government, has not been carried out on the original lines, and that the separate system has been more generally applied than was intended; upon this point it is desirable that the public should be thoroughly enlightened. In December 1890, the unofficial members of the Legislative Council, in a memoran- dum regarding the estimates for Public Works Extraordinary for 1891, sounded a note of warning on this subject to the following effect:-
"We do not feel satisfied that the enormous expenditure of '$282,500, already voted, on the sewerage of Victoria was a desirable one "to incur, but as the work has been commenced and has therefore to be "gone on with, we do not disapprove of the decision of Government to "sanction and carry out Mr. OSBERT CHADWICK's proposals and plans, "but we are now of opinion that it would have been better when such "decision was approved of by the Council that it should have been arrived "at in such a manner as would have guarded against any possibility of "any changes in and departures from these plans by a change of officers." In the opinion of the Committee, before adopting the separate system of drainage for the Chinese town, the views of experienced resident engineers, familiar with the habits of the Chinese, ought to have been ascertained. It is a very debatable question whether the system can be satisfactorily availed of for the densely packed districts of the native town, and however excellent it may be in an European, it is, at least, open to serious doubt whether it is safely applicable to a Chinese city.
Having regard to the foregoing, the Committee of this Chamber are unhesi- tatingly of opinion that, whilst it is almost certain the plague was introduced from the neighbouring province, it was only in consequence of the insanitary condition of this City that it was able to germinate and to become an unparalleled disaster, and that, therefore, it was due to preventible causes. The neglect of all effective sanitary measures throughout a period of years, and in the face of continuous and repeated protest, makes it abundantly manifest that there has been no effective administrative sanitary system in this Colony.
The Committee's excuse for addressing your Excellency at such length is the vast importance of the subject.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your Excellency's most obedient Servant,
J. J. KESWICK, Chairman.
To His Excellency
SIR WILLIAM ROBINSON, K.C.M.G.,
&c.,
&c.