[ LXI ]
MEMORANDUM HAVING REFERENCE TO CERTAIN MATTERS IN CONNECTION
WITH THE TUNG WA HOSPITAL
1. I have read these papers very carefully and I have inspected the Hospital with the object of forming an opinion regarding the requirements set forth by the Medical Officer of Health as being really necessary to place the Hospital on a sound sanitary footing. It is a matter for regret that the report is not a joint one as was requested.
2. I find that a storage tank for water is about to be constructed, and from what I can learn it will adequately meet the requirements of the Hospital. However, if in practice it is found inadequate, an additional tank will have to be provided.
3. Bath-rooms are about to be erected and the remarks made regarding the storage tank for water apply to them.
4. The number of beds already limited to each ward is such that each bed has 1,000 cubic feet of space.
5. I am of opinion that the method of warming the wards can be readily and cheaply improved so as to fairly effectually meet the requirements of the climate. I did not speak to the Directorate on this subject for the simple reason that my views on the subject may not meet with support from the other persons concerned, and I did not feel inclined to put myself in a false position by getting the Directorate to consent to do something which they might be subsequently told was insufficient.
6. I was assured that no cupboards were used as sleeping rooms.
I presume there must have been some case or cases of this observed or reference would not have been made to such a thing. At the same time, in the absence of particulars to the contrary, I feel bound to accept what the Directorate told me.
7. The occasional sleeping in the verandahs was readily admitted, but with the explanation that it was only permitted when it was a choice between such persons sleeping in the streets in the rags they wear or in the Hospital verandahs with a blanket to keep them warm. I quite agree that the verandahs of a hospital are not suitable places to be used as casual wards for destitutes, and there can be no question but the philanthropy which permits of it is open to grave objection. At the same time, I am bound to recognise that in the absence of any properly organised system of temporarily housing Chinese destitutes it is, indeed, a very open question whether it is wise to prohibit a charitable institution from providing such temporary lodging as they can manage for those who, on the face of it, would otherwise be a charge on the public rates. I do not wish that this remark should be misunderstood. I am not advocating the establishing of casual wards to act as a draw for the destitutes of the Kwangtung province or for the reception of the unfortunates belonging to the Colony. In a place like this, the work of looking after destitutes can be done both cheaper and better by a charitable institution such as the Tung Wa Hospital than by a Government Department.
8. I find some difficulty in dealing fairly with the old small-pox wards, partly because they are no longer used for the reception and treatment of small-pox patients and partly because of the conditions under which they were erected.
Unless my memory is at fault they were erected owing to representations which were made by the Colonial Surgeon as to the great danger arising from the treatment of small-pox patients in one of the wards of the Hospital. I am not aware that either the Colonial Surgeon or the Surveyor General approved of the plans for these old small- pox wards, but I do remember that His Excellency Sir JouN POPE HENNESSY very warmly thanked the Tung Wa Directorate for the good work done in providing these wards for the reception and treatment of small-pox patients. I think it is therefore only fair to conclude that the funds of the Hospital were expended in the erection of these wards with the approval of the Government of the day, and I think there can be