:
HONGKONG.
SANITARY SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1895.
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of
His Excellency the Governor.
313
No. 22
SANITARY BOARD ROOM, HONGKONG, 15th May, 1896.
96
GENTLEMEN-1 have the honour to submit this the seventh annual report concerning the work done by the Sanitary Department during the year 1895.
DRAINAGE WORKS.
In addition to the work carried out by owners of property of their own initiative a great number of houses, which were found on inspection to be in an insanitary condition, have been re-drained at the request of the Board. I append a tabular statement (A) showing-
1. The locality in which the houses so found to be insanitary are situated.
2. The number of houses so found in each such locality.
3. The houses so found for which plans for re-draining them have been submitted.
4. The houses so found at which the work of re-draining has been completed.
It will be observed that according to this table a very large number of houses (2,029) have been carefully inspected and found to be defectively drained and consequently the owners have been called on to redrain them. In addition to these, 1,673 houses were found to be either in good order, so far as their drainage arrangements were concerned, or which only required to have down-pipes, traps, etc., etc. repaired to put them in good order.
The complaints concerning the choking of the new pipe-drains have been far less frequent than in past years.
I feel sure that a great many Chinese householders have arrived at the conclusion that after all these water-tight glazed pipe-drains are superior to the old porous drains, and hence the malicious choking of these drains has practically ceased. It would be a good thing if they impressed on their servants that the breaking of the gratings over the inlets to the down-pipes and drains is the cause of a very considerable amount of damage to property and for which, to my mind, the tenants are responsible. Not infrequently the trap below the fresh air inlet to the drains gets choked. In most cases this trap can be readily cleared, but very often an ignorant house-coolie is told to clear it and he, not knowing how to go to work, frequently smashes the trap in his wild endeavour to ram the choking material further into the drain.
MARKETS AND SLAUGHTER-HOUSES.
The much needed depôts for housing sheep and swine imported into the Colony for slaughter were opened early in the year when the old and exceedingly insanitary sheds which were situated in the midst of human habitations were abolished. The quiet and successful manner in which this change was effected is a matter for congratulation. The brutal Chinese method of weighing live swine continued during the year, but weighing machines having arrived this year (1896) it will soon be possible to put a complete stop to this cruel practice.
The fine new slaughter-house at Kennedy Town was opened on the 1st January, and it adequately meets the requirements of Victoria.
The Central Market was opened on the 1st of May. It is a very fine building and worthy of the Colony, as the central depôt for the distribution of most of the perishable articles of food.
The market shop-keepers objected strongly to the bye-law which prohibits them from using their shops as dwellings for their assistants. When they found that objecting and petitioning was of no avail, the next step--a favourite one with Chinese-was to clamorously assert that their wares were being stolen. The appointment of two night watchmen and a firm enquiry into each case of alleged theft very soon put a stop to the clamour. When I find a person asserting all manner of roguery against others, I know that such person needs careful watching, and in the great majority of such cases "he is sooner or later discovered to be a rogue himself; he has simply fallen into the vulgar error of
estimating other people by the measure which he knows so well admirably fits himself.
34 sheds capable of housing 963 head of cattle, 5 sheds capable of housing 144 head of goats and 815 pens capable of housing 6,033 bead of swine were duly licensed during the year. The housing of these animals in the Colony is now, in the main, in a satisfactory condition. There are now very few places where these animals are housed under the same roof as the owner or the owners' servants, and such as may exist are in the smaller hamlets.