103
HONG KONG.
No.
4
1937
MEMORANDUM.
CHANGES IN THE PUBLIC HEALTH ORGANISATION OF HONG KONG DURING THE PERIOD 1929 TO 1937.
BY
A. R. WELLINGTON, DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL SERVICES.
1. Small in area but of considerable importance politically and commercially the Colony of Hong Kong is at the same time a fortress with a naval base and an air base and a commercial city with a large port. It is a Liverpool and Birkenhead for South China whose commercial prosperity depends on the mainten- ance of amicable relations with the neighbouring government of Canton.
2. The public health problems are chiefly those of a large commercial port which in other colonies would be successfully administered under a municipal form of government. But just as there is no room in Hong Kong for a Municipal Government in addition to the Colonial Government so there is no
room for a Government Medical Department and an Urban Health Department working independently under different heads.
3. As I am due to depart from the Colony shortly on leave prior to retirement it may serve a useful purpose to review the changes which have taken place since my arrival on February 4th, 1929, and compare the position now with what it was then.
A.
When I came here eight years ago I was told that the two main problems were reorganisation of the Medical and Sanitary Services and malaria control and these have occupied a great deal of my time since.
5. The conditions I found on arrival are set down in detail in the reports I submitted in 1929 and 1930; the history of the developments which have taken place since are contained in the various government files and in the Annual Reports of the different years. The following shows in summary form for comparison the position in 1929 and that of to-day.
The Position in 1929.
6. In 1929 the laws dealing with the urban public health complex were the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance, 1903, the Registration of Births and Deaths Ordinance, 1896, the Sale of Food and Drugs Ordinance, 1896, the Summary Offences Ordinance, 1845, and the Water Works Ordinance, 1903, none of which contained any reference to a Director of Medical and Sanitary Services. Except through the law there can be no power or status, without which a title has no value.
7. The term Director of Medical and Sanitary Services was thus a misnomer in so far as sanitary services were concerned. That Officer had no power of direction over the Sanitary Department which included the greater part of the public health services. The real Director of Sanitary Services was the "Head of the Sanitary Department a civil servant who was at the same time president of the Sanitary Board a body established under the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance whose powers were chiefly advisory.
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