19
No. 262.
SIR,
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONGKONG, 18th July, 1901.
I have the honour, in reference to any despatch No. 254 of the 13th instant, to forward for your information the Memoranda drawn up by the Colonial Secretary, the Acting Director of Public Works, and the Captain Superintendent of Police on the various statements in the petition.
2. I fear that the signatories to the petition were not acquainted with the facts and that it was largely signed on the simple issue that the sanitation of the town required thorough examination by an Expert of eminence. I observe that some of the signatures are those of aliens. The few Chinese whose signatures were obtained are, I am informed, men of small consideration among the Chinese community, but, apart from this, the petition is influentially signed.
3. The Memoranda show that the Government has not been neglectful. It appears that the Sanitary Ordinances introduced since the year 1887 were carried by the Government against the opposition of the Unofficial Members. and that during the past 18 years the sum of $4,748,522 has been spent in works of Sanitation.
4. Still the fact remains that the expenditure of this money has had apparently no effect upon the recurrence or severity of Bubonic Plague, a disease as mysterious and as fatal now as it was in 1894.
5. In my despatch No. 244 of the 5th instant, I mentioned the experiment of thoroughly disinfecting a small district. That disinfection took place on the 21st and 22nd of last June. I regret to find that in the short time that has since elapsed, and with a rapidly decreasing plague return, there have been reported eight cases from this small disinfected area. This does not promise much hope of success from the extensive and expensive experiment of disinfecting the entire town next Spring as suggested by me. We might possibly reduce the death rate by producing an exodus, but this places us no nearer to a solution of this terrible difficulty.
I have the honour to be,
Sir
Your most obedient Servant,
The Right Honourable
JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, M.P.,
&c.,
&e..
&c.
MEMORANDUM
ON
HENRY A. BLAKE,
Governor, &c.
PETITION DATED 25TH JUNE, 1901.
A careful perusal of the Petition shows that it may be briefly epitomised as follows:
That the late Dr. Ayres pointed out in 1873 that there was necessity for Sani- tary improvements: that in 1881 a Special Sanitary Commissioner in the person of Mr. Osbert Chadwick visited Hongkong and, in a report dated 1882, made many valuable recommendations: and that with few exceptions those recommendations have been ignored.