5th June.
4th July.
20th August.
Daily Press.
1896.
185 (64)
30. At a meeting of the Sanitary Board the President, Honourable Mr. F. A. COOPER, Director of Public Works, minuted as follows:--
"I hope that a full and complete enquiry will be made into Mr. DANBY'S "allegations against the Sanitary Board and its officers, by apparently the "only means now available, viz, à Royal Commission."
31. An action was brought by YEUNG SHU KAM against the Sanitary Board and Polige Constable RAE as a test case to try the right of the Sanitary Board to enter premises and pull down cocklofts without getting a magistrate's order, which resulted in favour of the plaintiff.
32. Another action was brought by WONG LI YUEN against the Sanitary Board for wrongful acts, and he was awarded $500 damages.
33. Apart however from any question of the reorganisation of the Board or 25th August, the honesty of the officers, one lesson clearly appears from the cases that have recently been tried, namely, that should it unfortunately become necessary at any future time to undertake a general cleansing of the town owing to the outbreak of alth diseases, a much closer supervision should be exercised over the operations of the Whitewash Brigade" by responsible officers than has hitherto been the This year Dr. CLARK was in charge of the work but he could not possibly exercise personal supervision over the whole of the details, competent lieutenants are required. It is not right that Chinese householders should be placed at the mercy of a constable or other subordinate officer whose excessive zeal may lead to such occurrences as gave rise to the case tried on Saturday, even if they remain proof against the temptations to act corruptly that must inevitably be held out to them."
kina Mait. May,
case.
34. On May 1896, His Excellency the Governor addressed a communication to the Chamber of Commerce asking whether they adhered to the views of Mr. J. J. KESWICK, when he was Chairman of that Chamber, in favour of an official majority in the Sanitary Board or of the more recent views of the Honour- able Mr. T. II. WHITEHEAD, their Representative in the Council in favour of an unofficial majority.
35. The Chamber decided to take the opinion of the community on the subject which they did with the following result :-
For the Unofficial Majority,
For the Officialajority,
The following is an account of the taking of the Plebiscite :---
"THE SANITARY BOARD.
Result of Plebiscite...
331.
31.
For a considerable time the subject of whether there, should be an unofficial or an official majority in the Sanitary Board has bon vexed question amongst those in the Colony who take an interest in its Government. In consequence of a communication from the Governor to the Chamber of Commerce asking whether the Chamber adhered to Mr. J. J. KESWICK's views in favour of an official majority, as expressed by him while Chairman of the Chamber, or of the more recent views expressed by Mr. WHITEHEAD, the Chamber's representative in the Legislative Council, whose views were diametrically opposed to those of Mr. KESWICK, that body decided to refer the matter to the public in order that they might submit the opinion of the community on the matter to His Excellency the Governor. Yesterday and to-day were accordingly fixed as the days on which Two ballot the ballot should take place. The voting took place at the City Hall. boxes were placed in the Chamber of Commerce room, one labelled "Unofficial majority" and the other "Official majority". To each voter a small ticket was given, and his name entered in a register. With..this ticket the voter retired behind a screen and dropped the ticket into the box representing the views he held. The franchise was extended to all male British subjects over