[ XXIV]
(Enclosure 1.)
Extract from the "Daily Press" of 26th April, 1869.
THE "I-TS'Z" HOSPITAL.
INQUEST.
An inquest was held at the Civil Hospital on Saturday afternoon, 24th April, 1869, before F. STEWART, Esq., the Coroner, on the body of a Chinese emigrant, name unknown, who died in the "I-Ts'z" Hospital.
The following were the Jury:-Messrs. EDWIN FARRELL (foreman), Отто FREDERICK, and A. THOMPSON.
Next
Mr. ALFRED LISTER, Acting Registrar General, said he first saw deceased on the morning of Thursday, 22nd instant, he then formed one out of from eight or ten persons- in a building in Tai-ping-shan, known as the "Kwong-fook I-Ts'z." He did not inquire about deceased, but he was struck with the neglect and filth of the place. day he sent to carry away any dead bodies that might be in the place, one of those- bodies was that of deceased. He could only say with regard to the attendance at the "I-Ts'z," that the attendants could not tell whether a man was dead or alive until they shook then. He had been to the "I-Ts'z" before, but there were no patients. There were six or eight rooms altogether, four of which were occupied by patients. The first room he went into was not high enough for a man to stand upright in. It was about 3 by 4 feet. In this place there was a man on tressels and a Chinese bed. There were no windows, but a few slits in the wall. The bed filled up all the room. On this board lay a man whom he learnt was suffering from diarrhoea. The man was barricaded in, and, when he saw him, was obeying a call of nature, where he lay, having no other place. The man has since died. There did not appear to be any medicine in the room.
He (witness) was given to understand, that the man was barricaded in the room because he was delirious. The next room contained three people unable to speak or move. This room was about half the size of the inquest room, (about 10 by 15 feet). The men were lying on Chinese beds. There were no mats, simply boards. The only ventilation was through the door, which he found was the only medium of air and light. This room was higher than the one last described, and was similar to boys' or coolies' rooms in a European house. The patients were very dirty, but there was no particular odour. All the rooms had conveniences, but from the state of the patients he doubted if they were used. The third room contained three persons, one delirious, and one dead. They were all lying together on a wooden slab, and the floor was indescribably dirty. The next room contained two persons lying on an earthen floor, he should think in perfect darkness before the door was opened. He was told they were both dead, but Inspector GREY, who was with him, thought one was alive; but one of the attendants persisted that the patient was dead. He got the coolie to raise the man's arm to see the effect. The coolie did so, the man groaned, and the coolie cursed him in Chinese. The other man was dead, but looked horribly dirty, especially about the legs, which showed the man had not been attended to for some time. The third body was dead and offensive. He would incidently mention that there was a coffin for the first dead man he saw. He made enquiries about the patients, and was told some were from emigration houses, one or two were chair coolies, and the rest were people from families or shops about the town. He saw deceased twice before he died,. and once after he was dead. Had he lived, he would have been brought to the Civil Hospital. He found that on his second visit (half an hour after the first) one of the dead in a coffin, the floors had been cleaned up and food had been put for some of the people, that is simply a basin of rice put by the people, in fact, a basin of rice with a hard boiled egg in it, and some other things were placed beside a dead body, which had since been removed by him. He saw a coolie trying to give a delirious man some tea,