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make a sufficient examination of all persons on board, whether passengers or crew, to assure himself that none of them were suffering from any infectious disease, but such examination would not be deemed necessary if the Master of the vessel produced a certificate (somewhat similar to that furnished to the Customs Officers at home) signed by himself and countersigned by the Surgeon to the ship, to the effect that there had been no sickness of an infectious nature and no death during the voyage, and that the Surgeon had examined every person on board during the 12 hours previous to the arrival of the vessel in British waters, and was satisfied that they were then all in good health. Such Surgeon must in all cases be a person entitled to be registered in this Colony as a medical practitioner under Ordinances 6 of 1884 and 4 of 1893, and penalties should be provided to prevent the signing of such certificates by persons other than bonâ fide medical practitioners. When it is remembered that all the Mail Steamers, including P. & O., O. and O., N. P., C. P. R., M.M., N.D.L., and the Holt, Shire, Glen, and probably other lines carry Surgeons, it will be seen that not many of the thirteen steamers which enter this Port daily, will need a very prolonged visit from the boarding medical officer, and that the time of these officers will be largely occupied in supervising the Junk passenger traffic which is generally admitted to be largely responsible for the introduction of infectious disease into this Colony. There is no reason why these boarding Medical Officers should not also carry out the medical inspection of Chinese emigrants which is required by section 41 of Ordinance 1 of 1889, or at least such of this work as must be done afloat, for the number of persons to be examined averages only 230 per day.
It would be necessary for a Chinese Interpreter to accompany each of the Medical Officers on his visits, and accommodation should be provided for them also, at the residences at East and West Point. The Quarantine Regulation proposed by me to provide for this medical inspection of all vessels was as follows :—
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on
"All other vessels arriving at the port of Victoria, or entering the waters of the Colony "on the north side of the island of Hongkong shall remain outside the following limits, namely, the East, the Eastern boundary of the Harbour of Victoria, and on the West, a line "drawn due North and South from the West end of Stonecutter's Island, and shall not com- "municate otherwise than orally with the shore, until a general medical inspection of the passengers and crew and of all other persons on board such vessels, has been made by the "Boarding Medical Officers; and the Master of every such vessel shall not permit any person to leave such vessel, or any cargo to be landed therefrom until he has obtained a certificate "granting pratique from the said Boarding Medical Officer.
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"The Master of every vessel shall furnish the Boarding Medical Officer with all such "information as he may require, and if, in the opinion of such Medical Officer, there has been during the voyage, or there is at the time of his visit, any case of, or any death from, an "infectious or contagious disease on board, or any person whom he suspects to be suffering "from any such disease, he may require the Master to at once proceed to the Quarantine "anchorage; and any such vessel shall be deemed to be a vessel arriving in the waters of "this Colony having at the time of arrival, or having had during the voyage, a case of "infectious or contagious disease on board' and shall comply with all the Quarantine
Regulations relating to such vessels :
any
"Provided always that Her Majesty's Mails may be landed from any vessel at any time "after her arrival in the waters of the Colony, and that such mails may be accompanied "ashore by a mail officer or officers, but the names of all such officers must be given to the "Boarding Medical Officer by the Master of the vessel, at the time of his visit of inspection;
"And provided also that the Boarding Medical Officer may, in his discretion, omit such general medical inspection of the passengers and crew and of all other persons on board, upon the production of a certificate in the form set forth in the Schedule attached hereto, "duly signed by the Master of the vessel and countersigned by the Surgeon to the effect "that there has been no case of sickness of an infectious nature during the voyage, and that "the said Surgeon has seen every person on Board during the twelve houses immediately preceding the visit of the Boarding Medical Officer and is satisfied that they are all in "good health."
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The Governor in Council should have power to extend this Regulation to any other port in the Colony, by proclamation in the Gazette, and should ensure that the certificates of duly qualified medical practitioners only are accepted.
BUBONIC FEVER.
As will be seen from the foregoing table the Colony was happily spared, during 1897, a repetition of the outbreaks of this disease which characterized 1894 and 1896. Only 21 cases of Bubonic Fever were discovered during the year, all of them being of Chinese nationality, and these were distributed over the three later quarters. Two of the cases are known to have been imported from the mainland, four were found in the streets and could give no addresses, and of the remaining 15, no less than 8