2. Last year there were only one or two cases per week down to the end of March, with the exception of the three weeks ending 24th March during which no case was reported. From the 7th April the returns showed from twenty cases to ninety cases per week. The latter figure being for the week ending 30th June, when the disease subsided, the week ending on the 18th August showing 26 cases, and the following week 9. The four weeks of November were the only four con- secutive weeks free from the disease, the two last weeks of the year showing each only one case.
3. As Rinderpest had been prevalent on the mainland and I have observed some mysterious connexion between kinderpest and Plaque which frequently de- velops after Rinderpest has been pronounced, I sent early in January for the Medical Officer of Health and instructed him to send in at once his suggestions for dealing effectively with a possible recurrence of Plague in epidemic form during the year, and on the 28th January I receive his suggestions, anticipating that No. 9 district would probably be the worst; he recommended that :—
(a.) Eight European Constables should make a thorough house-to-house visitation once a week, each to speak Chinese or have an Interpreter.
(b.) That to prevent the depositing of dead bodies on the street, the police patrol of that district should be augmented by swearing in fifty Indian soldiers as Special Constables to be controlled by a European Officer, the same system to be extended to other districts should the plague spread.
(c.) That the Light Regulations (Sec. 31 of Ordinance No. 13 of 1888) should be re-enactel in plague districts, and that they should be at once applied to the Western part of the City.
(d.) That in case of deal plague bodies being found in back-lanes, which could not be controlled by the Special Police, every house in the lane should be cleansed and disinfected.
(e.) That a reward of five dollars should be offered for such information as would lead to the conviction of persons depositing dead bodies in the street or public thoroughfare.
(f.) That a reward of one dollar should be offered for every living case of plague reported to the Tung Wa Hospital (an excellent Charitable Institution supported entirely by the Chinese) or nearest Police Station, and that in all such cases Government should pay two dollars for each floor disinfected as compensation for small articles that might be destroyed or damaged in the process of disinfection,
(g.) Should disease spread in spite of these precautions, a further European
Staff would be required to assist in disinfection.
4. With the exception of the re-enactment of the regulation made under Ordinance No. 13 of 1888 that all Chinese should carry a lantern, a suggestion of which the Colonial Secretary and the Captain Superintendent of Police disapproved, I approved at once of all these proposals, and, in addition to the Police, the requisite number of men was lent by the Military Authori ies, isolated matshed accommodation being prepared for them at the expense of this Government and extra pay given to them as during the epidemic of 1894.
5. Further suggestions were made by the Sanitary Board for the improvement of the Sanitary staff and were adopted. Unfortunately the health of Mr. Dandy, the Chief Sanitary Inspector, broke down, and on his departure I have recom- mended the appointment of an Assistant Medical Officer of Health.