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preventing also the pollution of the soil. The provisions of section 4 of Ordinance 15 of 1894 have been steadily enforced throughout the year, with the result that the ground surfaces of no less than 1,885 dwellings have during that time been laid with six inches of concrete, under the personal super- vision of the Inspectors of Nuisances.
There yet remains, however, another important means of preventing the dissemination of infectious disease, which has not been applied in this Colony, and that is, the compulsory disinfection, at regular intervals, of all clothing held by pawnbrokers, and second-hand dealers. It is a common custom among the coolie class of Chinese to pawn their winter clothing at the termination of the winter season, at the same time redeeming any summer clothing they may have previously pawned, and as it is a well-established fact that personal clothing and bedding will retain the infection of Small-pox, Bubonic Fever and other virulent infectious disease for an indefinite period, the systematic disinfection of all such articles by steam would, I think, prove a valuable preventive measure.
The steps adopted by the Sanitary Board with a view to preventing the spread of the disease were, as I have already suggested, the cleansing and lime-washing of practically every Chinese dwelling in the Colony; in addition to this general cleansing, special precautions were taken to effectually disinfect every dwelling in which a case of Bubonic Fever was discovered, and as it was found useless to rely upon the Chinese to report such cases, gangs of Police and Soldiers were employed to make house to house visits in the poorest quarters of the city and to seek for the sick and dying in their own homes.
Shelters were provided for the temporary accommodation of all those who were displaced from their houses during the processes of disinfection, and, until the epidemic became too extensive, the Board detained and isolated all those who had been exposed to infection, for a period of ten days, in junks hired and fitted for this purpose.
A daily disinfection of the contents of the buckets in all the public latrines in the Colony, by means of chloride of lime, was also carried out, under the personal superintendence of the Inspectors of Nuisances.
Of the 1,204 cases, 804 were males and 390 were females, while in ten cases the sex was unrecorded; this gives a percentage of 67.4 males and 32.6 females, while the percentages of popula tion are 70.7 males to 29.3 females, so that women would appear to suffer from the disease to a extent than men.
greater
The number of children (under 10 years of age) who contracted the disease was 194, while of the remainder 974 were adults, and in 36 cases the ages were unrecorded; this shows that 17.5 per cent of the cases occurred among children under 10 years of age while the proportion of such children to adults in the Colony certainly does not amount to 10 per cent.
Hence it would appear that children are more liable to contract the disease than adults, and women are more susceptible than men.
It is a most regrettable circumstance that the disease shewed a far greater tendency to spread among Europeans, during this outbreak, than it did during the greater epidemic of 1894, and no less than 16 Europeans were attacked, 13 being British, 2 Italians and 1 Austrian; of these, 8 suc- cumbed, namely, the 2 Italians and 6 Britishers.
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The following is a brief account of these European cases; the first to occur was that of a child, aged 4 years, living with her parents in the Chinese portion of the city, and in a district in which the disease was raging at the time; the child did not attend school, but was accustomed to play about in the streets during the day-time and most probably acquired the infection from some Chinese children the next case occurred in a sister of the above, aged 11 years, and was probably acquired in a similar manner; this latter patient recovered, while the former succumbed to the disease. At about the same time a Master Mariner who was superintending the construction of a steam-launch and was accordingly in the habit of crossing. from Victoria to Hunghom several times daily in Chinese launches crowded with dirty coolies, developed the disease and died. Some few weeks later an Austrian contracted the disease but recovered, and at about the same time, one of the Sisters in the Italian Convent was infected by a Chinese patient and died, while another Sister who was in attendance upon her also became infected and died.
At this time also a child, aged 3 years, residing in an hotel in the centre of the town contracted the disease and died, the infection having been apparently conveyed by a child of the Chinese Amah who had recently arrived from Canton.
During the months of May and June three British soldiers developed Bubonic Fever and two of them died; neither of these men was employed in sanitary work at the time, and it is most probable that they contracted the disease in some Chinese house of entertainment.
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At about this time also two children of two of the Police Inspectors developed the disease, contracting it probably from some Chinese woman or child, and beth recovered; the caretaker at the Happy Valley Recreation Ground took the disease and recovered, the only source of infection that could be suggested in this case being the water of the neighbouring nullah which the man was accustomed to drink; and an assistant in a mercantile house, who had recently arrived from England, also developed the disease and recovered.
This list patient, previous to his illness, was superintending the removal and renewal of the old floor of a room in which Chinese cases of Bubonic Fever had occurred in 1894, and I am of the opinion