449
No.
27
HONGKONG.
GOVERNOR'S DESPATCH ON THE INCIPIENCE AND PROGRESS OF THE BUBONIC PLAGUE IN HONGKONG DURING 1896.
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellencij the Governor.
No. 117.
SIR,
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONGKONG, 6th May, 1896.
I have the honour to forward for your information the following account of the incipience and progress of the bubonic plague in this Colony during the current year, and of the measures which have been and are being taken to suppress it.
2. The first case of plague occurred on the 4th January, and from that date to the 29th January there were 45 cases, as reported to you in my despatch No. 26 of that date. These cases were merely sporadic, being confined principally to the western portion of the City.
Precautionary measures of the following nature, to prevent the discase from spreading, were adopted without delay :-
(i) Every person found to be suffering from the disease was at once removed to the hospital at Kennedy Town, situated in an isolated position at the extreme western suburb of Victoria, and was there placed under treatinent.
(ii) The other inmates of the house in which the case bad occurred and who were in close contact with the patient were segregate 1 on large and roomy junks locally known as "marriage boats," hired by Government for the purpose and anchored in the vicinity of Stonecutter's Island, where they were detained under observation for 10 days, 9 days having been ascertained to be the maximum period of incubation of the disease in 1894. Every attention was paid to the comfort of those segregated who, besides being fed at the expense of Government, were supplied with clothing, whilst their own was being disinfected by the Sanitary Board before being finally returned to them. After the period of 10 days had clapsed, they were at liberty, if still free from the disease, to return to the City, or to their own homes on the main- land. Only one or two persons developed the disease during the period of isolation, and they were of course at once removed to the Kennedy Town hospital for treatment.
(iii) The house in which the case occurred was at once closed and guarded by the Police until it had been thoroughly cleansed, disin- fected and white-washed under the supervision of the Medical Officer of Health attached to the Sanitary Board.
"The Right Honourable
Mr. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, M.P.,
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,
&c.,
&C.
SC., Downing Street,
London.