TUNG WAH HOSPITAL.
365
Considerable improvements in the sanitary condition of this Hospital have been inade during the past year, at the instance of the Sanitary Board; a certain number of isolation wards, known as the Ko Fong wards which came within the legal definition of basements were vacated, and some of these have already been demolished to make room for more habitable wards; bath-rooms have been provided for one of the large blocks; the old and leaky drains have been replaced by new pipe drains, and a large quantity of condemned stores and useless rubbish, which was stored on the veran- dahs surrounding the wards, has been removed, while the practice of permitting destitutes to sleep in these verandahs has also ceased, in consequence of representations made by the Board.
The overcrowding of the wards and the most objectionable practice of keeping commodes, which had been used, in the wards for 24 hours or longer, have now been to some extent remedied, but the bedding supplied to the patients still leaves much to be desired in the direction of cleanliness, while the ignorance of the Chinese doctors in reference to the diagnosis of cases of infectious disease is a matter which requires early attention, for quite recently several cases of Small-pox have been allowed to attend the out-patient departinent while the eruption was well marked, one man being told that he was suffering from Scabies, and another that the rash was "the result of drinking too much wine."
The only remedy appears to be that every patient who applies for treatment at this Hospital whether as an indoor or an outdoor case should be first seen by someone who is competent to diagnose the infectious fevers.
OFFENSIVE TRADES.
The bye-laws which have been made by the Sanitary Board for the regulation of these trades prohibit their further establishment in premises which are not approved by the Board, and require that all such premises shall be substantially built and the ground surfaces adequately paved; that the walls shall be rendered impervious to a height of not less than seven feet from the floor; that no person other than a caretaker shall sleep at night upon the premises, and that the best practicable means be adopted to render innocuous all vapours emitted during the necessary trade processes. The principal offensive trades carried on in this Colony are those of fat-boiling, bone-boiling and soap-boiling and many of the manufacturers have, since the passing of the above bye-laws, migrated from the more central parts of the city to West Point, where premises have been fitted up for them in accordance with the provisions of the law, by certain owners of property in that neigh- bourhood. The advantages of this migration, from a sanitary point of view, are considerable, for the existence of offensive trades in the midst of the most densely populated districts cannot fail to still further deteriorate the general health of the inhabitants, and I would strongly recommend the Board, not, under any circumstances, to permit the establishment of any new factories for these purposes in the central districts of the city.
COMMON LODGING-HOUSES.
The bye-laws for the regulation of Common Lodging-houses have been steadily enforced through- out the year, and there are now some 840 registered lodging-houses in the Colony, which are licensed to accommodate 14,685 men as compared with 457 houses licensed to accommodate 7,423 men, at the end of last year. Having regard however to the fact that there are about 160,000 male Chinese iu. the Colony and only some 66,000 Chinese women and also that polygamy is a national custom, it is apparent that there must yet be many tenement dwellings occupied as unregistered lodging-houses by the 100,000 or more single men, who are unaccounted for in the above return.
OVERCROWDING.
By section 13 (ii) of Ordinance 15 of 1894, the Sanitary Board are empowered, with a view to the prevention of overcrowding, to mark upon the exterior or interior of domestic dwellings the number of persons who may legally occupy the same or any part thereof, while by section 9 of the same Ordinance it is enacted that every inhabitant of a domestic building must be allowed not less than 30 square feet of habitable floor space or superficial area and 400 cubic feet of clear and un- obstructed internal air space. It would perhaps be unreasonable to expect the Chinese tenants of tenement dwellings to be fully conversant with these requirements, and the Board have therefore, during the past year, adopted the suggestion contained in the first section quoted above, and have caused to be painted upon the inner surface of one of the walls of each room of certain tenement houses a notice in English and Chinese as follows:-
TO ACCOMMODATE
PERSONS
名
人
The same plan has been adopted in all registered Common Lodging-houses, for it was found that the boards, which were previously supplied to these lodging-houses, were carried from house to house