HONGKONG.
267
No. 26
98
REPORTS OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH, THE SANITARY SURVEYOR, AND THE COLONIAL VETERINARY SURGEON FOR THE YEAR 1897.
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government.
SANITARY BOARD.
Members:
Hon. J. H. STEWART LOCKHART, Registrar General.
Hon. R. D. ORMSBY, Director of Public Works.
Hon. F. H. MAY, C.M.G., Captain Superintendent of Police (Vice-President).
J. M. ATKINSON, M.B., (Lond.), D.P.H., Principal Civil Medical Officer (President). FRANCIS W. CLARK, M.B.; D.P.H,, (Camb.), Medical Officer of Health.
NATHANIEL J. EDE.
Secretary to the Board. HUGH MCCALLUM.
To the Secretary of the Sanitary Board.
SANITARY BOARD OFFICES,
March 17th, 1898.
SIR, I have the honour to submit, for the information of the Board, the following Report upon the health of the Colony of Hongkong during the year 1897.
AREA.
The island of Hongkong, upon which is situated the city of Victoria, and a number of villages, has an area of rather more than 29 square miles, while some 22 square miles of the opposite peninsula of Kowloon are also comprised within British territory.
The domestic buildings of the city of Victoria number 7.209 (exclusive of Barracks and Police Stations), of which 501 are European dwellings, while the total area at present built over is 580 acres; these buildings extend along the sea-front for a distance of four and a half miles, and up the hillside to the city limit of 800 ft. above high water mark, while some 120 houses have been erected in the Peak district at altitudes varying from 900 to 1,400 ft. above sea level. The various villages on the Island contain 30 European and 1,575 Chinese houses, while British Kowloon contains 72 European and 1,785 Chinese houses, in addition to the Barracks for the Hongkong Regiment and 72 small houses used by this Regiment as married quarters.
CLIMATE.
The average monthly temperature throughout the year has been 71.7° F. as compared with 72° F during the year 1896; the maximum monthly temperature was attained in July, when it reached 82,1° F, as compared with a maximum monthly temperature in the same month of the previous year of 88.1° F; the minimum monthly temperature was recorded in February, as in the previous year, being 54.2° F as compared with 53.1° F. The highest recorded temperature was 91.8° F in the month of September, and the lowest was 41.0° F in the month of February.
The total rainfall for the year was 100.03 inches, as compared with 71.78 inches during 1896, the wettest months being August with 25,55 inches and June with 23.355 inches; while the dryest months were December with 0.48 inch and March with 0.815 inch of rain; no rainfall was recordedl upon 193 days of the year, as compared with 208 days during the preceding year.
The greatest amount of rain which fell on any one day was 6.03 inches on June 28th; the relative humidity of the atmosphere throughout the year was approximately 80 per cent, the maximum occurring in March with 90 per cent, and the minimum in November with 65 per cent. The average daily amount of sunshine throughout the year was 4.78 hours as compared with 4.8 hours in the previous year; on 71 days only was no sunshine recorded.
These figures have been calculated from the Monthly Reports issued by the Director of the Hong- kong Observatory; the temperatures were taken at 108 feet above mean sea-level and at 4 feet above the grass.