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Hon. T. H. WHITEHEAD-Then as to carrying out the reforms necessary in the various houses, how do you suggest it is to be done-under Government supervision or by the Board ?--Not by the Government. The Government cannot go in and do a lot of private work of that description. Notice ought to be served by the Sanitary Board on the owners of the property that such and such alterations are required and they should be called upon to have it done within a certain time.
The.CHAIRMAN-And failing that ?--The provisions of the Ordinance would pro- vide for the consequences.
The work would be done for them, I suppose ?—The Board should have power to do the work at the cost of the owner.
Mr. EDE-You would recommend the same principle which is carried out by the Sanitary Board?-Yes, in respect of drainage works, concrete works, etc. If the works are not carried out shut up the house. A man is not going to get his house shut for the sake of $10.
Do you recommend more than one Medical Officer of Health ?-Of course one man cannot see everything. It depends very much on the staff under him. I do not think myself that a district of this size in England would have more than one Medical Officer of Health. I think some Medical Officers of Health have much larger districts.
What about the population?-The Medical Officer of Health does not do inspector's work. He has to exercise a general supervision over his staff and advise the Board on technical matters in connection with the health of the Colony. He has to go into the houses occasionally, but you cannot expect him to do the work of his subordinates. Dr. CLARK is in a very much better position to speak about that than I am. Most of this work is inspector's work: there is no question about that. It is not the work of the Medical Officer of Health.
Mr. JACKSON-It is a question then of having efficient Inspectors ?--It is absolutely necessary. If you had half a dozen Medical Officers of Health you would not get the work well done if you did not have good Inspectors; you must have them. A good Inspector is really as important as anything.
Are the Inspectors immediately under the Sanitary Board ?--Immediately under the Medical Officer of Health, who is an Executive Officer of the Sanitary Board.
It is practically the same thing?-Yes, the Sanitary Board do not have any executive work of this nature to do- the work goes through the Medical Officer of Health. The Inspectors are solely at the service of the Sanitary Board except in the out-districts-Stanley, Aberdeen, and Shaukiwan--where arrangements have been made for the Police to perform the duties. Then there are two Inspectors over at Kowloon; one takes the East and the other the West.
The CHAIRMAN-Are they under the Sanitary Board ?--Yes.
Hon. T. H. WHITEHEAD-With an amended Ordinance including the recommenda- tions of Dr. CLARK and yourself, do you think that any increased staff would be re- quired to see that the terms and conditions of the new amended Ordinance were carried out, or would the present staff be available for the work?-The staff down in the Estimates for this year will, I think, be sufficient. That includes two new Inspectors and an Assistant Sanitary Surveyor, I think.
The CHAIRMAN--Yes.-I think that ought to be sufficient. Of course the larger the staff you have the quicker the work will be done. The thing must be arranged so that you do not get a man from England for six months and then send him back again.
Hon. T. H. WHITEHEAD-With this amending Ordinance brought into force, would it not be well to push on generally with the work with as little delay as possible?