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7. I have also consulted the Members of the Executive Council, all of whom practically hold the same views as those expressed by the Unofficial Members.
8. The Colonial Secretary and Registrar General also reports that it is not possible to find any leading Chinese gentleman who is willing to fill the vacancy on the Board caused by the resignation of the Chinese Members who formerly belonged to it and that all those Chinese gentlemen whom he has approached on the subject, while expressing their unwillingness or incapability to serve, informed him that they would prefer the sanitation of the Colony to be under the direct control of the Government.
9. From the enclosed copy of a letter from the Chamber of Commerce, which includes in its membership the leading European merchants in this Colony, it will be seen that discontent exists with regard to the sanitation of the Colony, and I feel certain that this feeling of discontent will not be removed and that the sanitation of this Colony will never be put on a satisfactory footing until the sanitary arrangements are placed under the direct control of the Government as recommended by the Unofficial Members whom I have quoted above and by the Members of Executive Council in whose recommendations I concur.
10. I therefore submit for your Lordship's approval that the Sanitary Board as at present constituted be abolished and that the Head of the Medical Department of this Colony, who should be styled Principal Civil Medical Officer, be made responsible, not only for the work of that Department, but also for the sanitary work of the Colony other than that of an engineering nature, which should be placed under the Director of Public Works.
11. In order to enable the Principal Civil Medical Officer to discharge thesc duties effectively, I consider that he would require to have under him at least four assistants none of whom should be appointed exclusively for particular duties but who should be ready to discharge whatever duties the Principal Civil Medical Officer might call upon them to perform.
12. The present staff of the Sanitary Board should also be placed under the Principal Civil Medical Officer. The office of Secretary would have to be retained, but the work now performed by the Superintendent could be carried on by the Medical Assistant deputed to discharge the duties of Medical Officer of Health, who would be responsible to the Principal Civil Medical Officer for supervising the Nuisance Inspectors who at present work under the Sanitary Superintendent.
13. If your Lordship approves the arrangement which I have suggested, I am confident that the sanitation of the Colony, which is of supreme importance to its welfare, will rapidly be improved, and that the friction, which has arisen frequently between the Sanitary Board and the Government and between the Sanitary Board and the public, will be lessened if not altogether avoided.
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*
*
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*
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*
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient, humble Servant,
WILLIAM ROBINSON,
Governor.
* Printed in Sessional Paper No. 7 of 1896.
÷ The remainder of this despatch dea's with the Constitution of the Medical Department.