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Dr. STEDMAN. Do you think it would be possible for Dr. JORDAN's deputy to be arranged for to be on call for a certain number of hours each day and the new man, coming out, to take the remainder of the day?
Dr. BELL. That is the idea.
available.
Between those two there will be always one man
Dr. STEDMAN.—If that was arranged would it not give the man ashore time to do the Plague Hospital and attend the few cases at Kowloon ?
Dr. BELL.-The plague work and the mortuary must be seen to in the morning so that an officer must always be there in the morning. No doubt an arrangement might be made with Dr. JORDAN's deputy that they should take turn-and-turn-about, and be on for six hours daily each.
Colonel HUGHES.-In that case he could do the work at Kowloon ?
Dr. BELL. I should think he could manage that very well. There is other work besides boarding ships. There are sometimes two or three steamers going out and all the Chinamen on board have to be examined so that if you have these and several ships coming in from infected ports, one man must attend to the emigration work and the other to inspecting ships when they arrive.
The Chairman.-Is not there some new rule which allows mail steamers to go to the wharves direct?
Dr. BELL.-A steamer with a Surgeon who certifies that there is no illness on board is allowed the enter though coming from an infected port.
The Chairman.-It must carry a medical man?
Dr. BELL.-Yes, the arrangement is as follows: if a steamer comes in from an infected port with a doctor on board who certifies that nothing is wrong on board she is allowed to land her mails.
Colonel HUGHES.-There is no hurry in that case ?
Dr. BELL.-No, but if there is a case on board she has to wait while the other passenger steamers are finished.
Dr. STEDMAN. If she comes in with a case of an infectious disease on board she has to be delayed though she carries a doctor?
Dr. BELL.-The mails are not. If she has an infectious disease on board they cannot land the mails until the nature of the disease has been ascertained. There was a case in which the doctor on board said it was one disease and three others said it was infectious, and they referred it to me, and I said it was not.
Colonel HUGHES.-Whose decision was taken?
Dr. BELL.-Mine,
Colonel HUGHES.-What was the decision?
Dr. BELL. I decided the case was not infectious and the steamer was released.
The Chairman.-You had to board that steamer?
Dr. BELL. They brought the case to me.
Colonel HUGHES.-That happened once?
Dr. BELL.-It does not happen often.
The Chairman.-Is that the only instance you know of?
Dr. BELL-That is the only one lately.
The Chairman.-How long have you been here ?