The foreign-owned overseas lines refused to take Chinese passengers. French and German lines would not touch cargo, while tramp boats avoided the Colony altogether.
Considering the great importance of Hongkong as a shipping port, it is only possible to conjecture what was lost by quarantine regulations against her in every direction, which drove away vessels from her harbour and deprived all, down to the humblest labourer, of their proportion of gain from the coaling, victualling, loading, and discharging of the immense fleet which usually came here.
Chinese hong merchants, a source of trouble in one way or another since the Colony was founded, retired to the mainland, leaving their premises to caretakers and their commercial engagements in abeyance until public health was restored. The effect of this was much felt by the English merchants, with merchandise left on their hands beyond the contract time. The merchants were forced to fall back on their banks, and heavy overdrafts were the order of the day.
Landlords went without their rents, and the poor tenants found necessary articles of food 30 or even 50 per cent above the usual price.
Commenting on the general situation, the Governor said:
"Without exaggeration, I may assert that, so far as trade and commerce are concerned, the plague has assumed the importance of an unexampled calamity.
At a meeting of the Legislative Council on June 12, His Excellency the Governor briefly sketched the methods which the Government intended to pursue with a view to preventing a recurrence of the catastrophe. These included the destruction and rebuilding of one-tenth part of Hongkong, increasing the water storage, and improving the drainage.
Not a day passed during June and July of 1894 on which no fresh cases of bubonic plague were reported. But the epidemic was obviously petering out. The house-to-house visits of the medical authorities, the strict regulations governing the sanitary conditions of houses and offices, all had their effect.
The number of cases reported each day during August showed a continuous decline. On August 22, there were 35 cases remaining under treatment at the Kennedy Town Hospital; on August 23, there were 33 cases; and on succeeding days, the number dropped to 29, 28, 27, and 25. From August 22 to August 28 inclusive, there were nine cases.
In that period, four deaths were reported, and 17 patients were discharged from hospital as cured.
On August 29, the last day on which plague figures were published, it was estimated that the total number of deaths from May 9 was 2,486. Medical authorities on plague estimate that the epidemic claimed about 100,000 victims in Canton.
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