24
added further to the congestion and further problems for the health staff. Vaccination centres were set up at the two bridgea crossing the border river and all persons entering the Colony were vaccinated until machine gunning from aircraft on the Chinese side of the border with the risk of ricochets and stray bullets made these vaccination centres dangerous and the staff were withdrawn to the Kowloon Railway Station.
90. During the latter part of the year the Police Depart- ment operated "Village Penetration Patrola" which visited- outlying villages, particularly on the islands which were not normally visited and found a great demand for medical treat- ment. An effort was made by the Medical Department to provide this service. Unfortunately owing to shortage of staff it was not possible to do more than provide simple drugs which could be given safely by a Police Inspector. It soon became clear that more than this was required and the doctors and nurses and other workers of St. John Ambulance Brigade came to the rescue and sent a party with each of these patrols.
91. This medical work proved more and more of a success as greator experience was obtained of the needs of the villagers and it is likely that it will became a permanent feature of the New Territories work, for which a debt of gratitude is owed to the St. John Ambulance Brigade whose workers do this in their spare time and without remuneration.
92. The construction of Luen Wo, a model market town, was nearly completed and occupation was started.
93. Owing to the anticipated difficulties in obtaining vegetables from beyond the border it was decided that every- thing must be done to increase the production in the New Territories and for this reason a calculated risk was taken and some hundred tons of nightsoil per day from the urban area was allowed to be distributed to the farmers in the New Terri- tories for cultivation purposes. This started on the 15th December and up to the end of the period under review there has been a very satisfactory increase in vegetable production.
94.
(i) Anti-epidemic.
This branch of the work is controlled from the central office and carried out by a central unit in co-operation with all brauches of the department. The main work is devoted to the control of smallpox and cholera. Vaccinations against small- pox and inoculation against cholera, in the winter and summer respectively, is the basis of the work and is directed in the first place to the squatter community and later to the whole urban area and the New Territories.
95.
25
Table 13 shows the number of vaccinations and in- oculations done each month.
JA
Booth
1940
TABLE 13.
The number of Inoculations and Vacinations
done during 1949.
Anti-
VaccinationL Smallpox
inoculations Choler Aati-
Antie
InoculationE Diphtheria
Inoculations Typhoid Asti.
Plaque
Anti.
BUDIMBOUĮ
IFFC
པ
***
No. of Per-
Jors trusted
with
Anti-
224
BUDITI RODUĮ
P
Aali
studÅT
Tribe
Inoculation
Anti-
BAUOJAL
inoculation
at
February
March
April
126.417 6,860
100,211 4,764
1P1.971 1,960
10 1,799
20
242
377
640
1,249
8,139
+
-B00
494
600
1.077 2.061
FR2
4E1
148.97 37,681
146 2,580
12
298
TOG
300
Miny
US,TED 147,147
60,081 90.424
420
67%
8,690
230
2,847
11
980
BEO
ЯED
18,186 89,641
2,274
16
304 1,018
620
17.046 $3.001
214
1,841
$19
$23
Sepfern bor
47,551 36,037 2,130
8,224
ท
KTO
1,189
DET
120,009 9.122 0,236 1.501
165,468 6,689 1,મગ 1,418
230,704 8,924 1,921 1,452
1,380,264 612,210 13,062 26,071
1
601
白眉 1827
4
TAS
621
794
213
644
509
750
July
August
October
November
Docher
الجنابة
96.
work.
2
$19
227 6,336 1,371 B.636
Rodent control forms an integral part of anti-epidemic The systematic destruction and control of rodents was carried out on the general principles laid down in "Infestation Control: "Rats & Mice", H.M.S.O. (1946), and adapted to the circumstances and conditions in the Colony. Block control was aimed at, using prebaiting and poison treatments followed by post-baiting to detect the presence of survivors. Minor infesta- tions were dealt with by trapping. Rats caught by trapping were chloroformed and examined for fleas which were counted and classified enabling information to be obtained on the prevailing flea index. The public is encouraged to put dead rats in public rat bins whence they are collected and sent to the mortuaries for examination. All rats were examined microscopically, and a percentage, including those showing abnormality, had spleen smears taken and microscopic examina- tion was made.
97. R. norvegicus was the more common type of rat found in the tenement houses and E. ratins more common in ships, but some were also found in tenement houses. Final disposal of all rats was by burial.