Protests were forwarded to the Viceroy at Canton and a proclamation was issued there, forbidding the posting of libellous placards. Unfortunately, the proclamation was couched in general, instead of specific terms, and did little good. At the same time a proclamation was issued in Hongkong, warning the Chinese against giving credence to the lies about the treatment of their sick relatives and friends.
On June 16, the British Consul at Canton informed the Governor of Hongkong that the Viceroy had promised to protect the Consulate, but he could give no guarantee for the safety of foreigners outside the city.
Towards the end of June, there was a considerable decrease in the number of plague cases, but the problem of caring for the sick was still one of the first magnitude. The Government was forced to incur immediate and heavy expenditure in erecting matsheds and hiring godowns for the segregation and isolation of those whom it had been necessary to keep under observation.
On or about June 12, the Glass Works Hospital at Kennedy Town, under the control of the Tung Wah committee, became seriously overcrowded, there being 200 patients in a building capable of holding about 100. Owing to the scarcity of labour, it was found impossible to build refuges fast enough to accommodate plague-stricken patients.
Another serious problem cropped up in the middle of June: The Directors of the Benevolent Hospital at Canton, through the Agency of the Viceroy, requested that any sick Chinese subjects who might wish to go to Canton, or desire, in case of death, to have their corpses sent to their native villages, might be forwarded in specially prepared junks to that capital. Several of the compradores, employing large numbers of clerks, also requested that they might be allowed to remove the sick, wherever found, to Canton. They also gave a pledge that, if that were permitted, they would remain in this Colony and not take part in the general exodus. Failing that permission, they threatened to leave at once, thus placing the banks and houses of business in even a worse position than they were at the time the application was made.
The compradores' request was refused, but after consultation with the Executive Council, the Governor agreed, as a tentative measure, that one or two junk loads of sick Chinese subjects might be removed to the Benevolent Hospital at Canton on the following conditions: (1) That the case of sickness had been reported to the police; (2) that the patient had passed through a local hospital; (3) that the patient expressed a desire to go to Canton; (4) that the doctors certified that the patient was fit to be moved and (5) that the junk or junks were properly provisioned, equipped, etc., for the comfortable conveyance of patients to Canton.
On June 14 and 15, four small junks left for Canton, carrying plague patients. The congested condition of the Tung Wah Hospital was thus relieved and it was closed down. In its stead, the new Pig Depot was converted into an isolation hospital, capable of holding 140 patients. The management was taken over by European doctors, and the internal arrangements were carried on by European wardmasters and attendants.