Year.
Table C.
No. of Houses for which notices have been received.
No. of repairs completed.
1896, Brought Forward,
1st Quarter,
72
86
2nd
72
1897,
51
233
3rd
34
"
4th
41
895
96
49
91
35
305
241
Total for 1895,
158
115
"
1896, 1897,
Totals,
328
290
233
241
719
646
No. of Houses notices
for which have
been cancelled.
NO:
11
~
313
No. of repairs
in hand.
སྙ ོམསྶ
62
43
72
62
Colonial Veterinary Surgeon's Report for 1897.
GOVERNMENT OFFICES, HONGKONG, 24th February, 1898.
SIR, I have the honour to submit, for the information of the Sanitary Board, my Annual Report for the year ending December 31, 1897.
I have the honour to be,
The Secretary,
SANITARY BOARD.
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
C. VIVIAN LADDS, Colonial Veterinary Surgeon.
REPORT.
IMPORTATION OF LIVE STOCK.
During the year no cases of contagious or infectious disease amongst animals were noticed until the month of November when a serious epidemic of Foot-and-Mouth disease broke out at the Dairy Farm Company's premises at Pokfulum, and, spreading rapidly, very soon all the cow-sheds and cattle depôts in the Colony became infected.
As the disease appeared in the different sheds, these premises were declared infected areas by the Board under the provisions of Bye-laws Nos. 12 and 13 of Schedule A of Ordinance No. 17 of 1887, and the removal therefrom of any animal, carcase, fodder, litter, utensil, or other thing therein was prohibited unless with the sanction of the Board.
Simultaneously with the outbreak in the Colony, the disease appears to have become general upon the mainland-all over the Canton district. In the Colony the disease assumed a comparatively mild type, but amongst the native cattle upon the mainland reports reached me that in many cases it was most virulent, numbers of animals losing their hoofs, and many dying.
I was not, however, able to confirm these reports, and coming as they did from native sources it is very probable that the numerous deaths referred to were due to rinderpest, and not foot-and-mouth disease at all.
How the disease became conveyed to Pokfulum there is no evidence to show, but possibly in straw, which is procured in large quantities from the mainland.
In the case of the outbreak at the cattle depôt it was most likely introduced by infected cattle being landed from Canton whilst in the incubative stage of the disease.
Under the present system all cattle which are imported for slaughter are, upon being landed, driven direct to the permanent depôts, and, though apparently healthy, they inay yet be in the incubative stage of disease and so communicate it to all the rest of the animals which may be already housed therein. Whereas a quarantine period of at least 12 to 24 hours would give latent disease time to develop, and thus reveal its existence, or in any case show that the animal was not in perfect health, and so lead to its further detention for observation.
Hence the importance of having proper Inspection Lairs at the landing-place in which cattle could be isolated for at least 12 to 24 hours previous to their inspection and possible admittance into the permanent cattle depôt. I have repeatedly urged the necessity of such lairs from time to time, but regret that so far nothing has been done to give effect to my recommendations.