176
he suggests that the sentence should run, "in- habited or used in the main by Chinese." And in the same section Mr. Cooper suggests an al- † teration in the last line "on the finding by the Board that the system of removal by hand carriage was inapplicable." He substitutes the word "is" for "was."
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
16
March 6, 1895.
Dr. Ho Kai, O. Chadwick, C.E., and the Hon.
Ion. F. A. COOPER-Opinions 1 and 2 appear S. Brown, urveyor General, dited 5th June, somewhat contradictory. Should not the word 1890, on the question of latrines in this city. In exclusively" be inserted in 2 before the words this report they state it is undesirable to provide by Chinese "? I agree generally with the closet accommodation in Chinese houses be- recommendations of the Committee, though I cause of the condition of dwellings in the colony am unable to concur in the reasons given in and the habits of the Chinese people. The support of such recommendations. I would like Hon. F. A. COOPER-I move as an amend-design of houses is such as to roader the pro to direct the attention of those interested in the ment to the motion that the Board adopt the vision of suitable closets for all the members of subjects of the questions circulated to (a) the recommendations of the Committee in the report, the household almost impracticable; even if con- report of the Special Committes of the Sanitary The Committee have recommended that the structed it would be exceedingly difficult to Institute on the quantity of water required to attention of the Board be given to improving | have them supervised by the Board's officers."
flush water closets, vol. xiv. Journal Sanitary In- in every way the system of hand carriage. The members of the Committee were from the stitute, (b) the paper by Dr. R. Thorne Thorne, In looking over the reasons which are given first opposed to the introduction into the colony C.B., F.R.S., on the etiology. spread, and pre- I see they are all of a prophetic nature and I of water closets geuerally, and, with such a convention of diphtheria, vol. xv. Journal Sanitary am certainly not prepared to commit my elf sensus of opinion in their favour, they have now Institute. to the opinions expressed therein. If we not the least hesitation in expressing their de- agree to the recommendations I shall be cided opinion that:- very happy to vote for the adoption of the report. The reasons are not facts bat opinions..
Mr. FRANCIS-I more that a Committee be ap- pointed to give effect to these recommendations.
The opinion was generally expressed that there was no need to add further powers to give effect to the recommendations, and Mr. FRANCIS withdrew his motion. The report was there. apon adopted with the modifications and re- commendations.
MORTALITY STATISTICS.
The death-rate for the week ended February 16th was 18.9 per 1,000 per aunum as compared with 225 in the corresponding week last year. For the week ended February 23rd the death. rate was 18.9 as compared with 16,5 in the corre- sponding week last year.
ADJOURNMENT.
The Board then adjourned until Monday at 4.15, when the by-laws under the Insanitary Dwellings Ordinance will be discussed.
SHOULD WATER CLOSETS BE PERMITTED ?
The following report by a Committee of the Sanitary Board on the question of the advisisi. bility or otherwise of permitting the adoption of water closets and their connection with the replic sewers in the city of Victoria was laid before the Board at its meeting on the 28th ult.]
The Committee originally consisted of J. J. Francis. Q.C.. Surgeon-Major James, and R. K, Leigh, M.I.C.E.
The Committee held several meetings and examined the Board's Surveyor, Mr. J. R. Crook, and the Acting Secretary, Mr. E. Ram.
They also drew up a list of questions to which it was decided to invite answers from the doctors, engineers, and architects, and some of the principal owners of property, and others.
At this stage Surgeon-Major James was or- dered north in connection with the China and Japan war, but his views ou the matter were made known to and were iu accord with the remaining two members of the Committee.
The questions, of which a copy is a neżed, were sent out to 39 men, and after some considerable delay answers were received from the following 19
E. Mackintosh, Dr. Stedmau, Colouel Preston, G. C. Anderson, Inspector Germain, Captain Ramsey, R.N., G. Sharp. Dr. Knott, tion. F. A. Cooper, Dr. Hartigau, W. E. Crow, H. Mc- Callum, W. St. Hancock, Dr. Cantlie, Dr. Ger- lach, Dr. Marques, J. Orange, C. Palmer, and Captain Hastings, R. N.
These answers are all annexed, and from them it will be seen that practically all these gentle- men are against the introduction of water closets generally into the city.
To these must also be added the Acting Sec- retary, Mr. E. Ram, who was decidedly against their introduction generally and for the Chinese. On the other hand the only man examined or who replied to the questions who was in favour of the general introduction of water closets was the Board's Surveyor, Mr. J, R. Crook,
The Committee have also carefully considered the report of Mr. Jas. Macritchie, M.I.C.E.. Municipal Engineer of Singapore, dated 31st July, 1893, who, after a three months' tour to the principal towns of India for the express purpose of inspecting the different systems of drainage and reporting to the Municipality of Singapore, was of opinion that water closets are not suitable to the native and Chinese population of that town.
The Committee have also considered the re- port of a Committee of this Board consisting of
The SECRETARY—With regard to Mr. Fran. cis's minute I did not observe Mr. Crook's re- 1. The introduction of water closets should mark until I saw the minute. I saw him and he be restricted and discouraged as much as said he was in error. I now append the follow- possible, and permits for their erectioning minute:-"I certainly was under the impres- should only be granted in respect of large sion that the night soil coolies were practically European hotels, clubs, and blocks of offices if not actually under the control of the con- where the great number of Europeans fre- tractor; I admit to be wrong and can only ex quenting the buildings reuders it very diffi- press my admiration at the working of the cult or impossible to apply the system of system of such advantages." hand-carriage.
2.No permits should, under any circum. stances, be given in respect of any buildings inhabited or used by Chinese, and no permit for any building, except after special exa. mination and report and on a fading by the Board that the system of removal by hand- carriage was inapplicable. 3.-No permits should be issued in respect of any building unless provision is made by the applicant, by the construction of cisterns or otherwise, for the adequate flushing of such water closets during the dry season or at any.time when the supply of water from the maius is cut off for any part of the day from
any cause.
W
Our reasons are as follows:-
1. That the introduction into the sowers of large quantities of excreta, however care- fully managed. is, in this climate and under the local conditions under which the city is built on the side of a steep hill, a probable cause of danger to the health of the inha- bitants and almost certain to cause dis- agreeable stenches.
2. That the sewer outfalls, discharging as they do into the harbour, and in view of the rapid silting up of the foreshore and the absence of any current through the bar. bour and out to sea (all the ebb and flood being through the Lyemoon Pass), would in the course of time cause a dangerous nui- sance along the sea shore and seriously defile the waters of the harbour. 3. That the habits and modes of living of the Chinese population and the construction of their houses are wholly unsuitable and render: the introduction of water closets among them out of the question. 4.That even for the European portion of the town the introduction of water closets, even if otherwise desirable, is out of the question in view of the inadequacy of the water supply for general public requirements. If water closets came into general use, an additional abundant supply of water over and above any now contemplated would be required for flushing purposes.
5. That not inerely would immense expense have to be incurred in providing additional water, but an intercepting sewer along the length of the city, outfalls beyond North Point, and expensive pumping stations would be required, besides the loss of the present revenue derived from the sale of the night
soil.
The Committee further recommend that the attention of the Board be given to improving in every way the present system of hand-carriage,
R. K. LEIGH. JNO. J. FRANCIS.
now
The following miuntes were attached.— Dr. HARTIGAN-The Surveyor can hardly be said to be in favour of water closets.
Mr. J. J. FRANCIS-It seems to me a very curions statement that the night soil contractor recoups himself by a charge made on each house. holder in the city. I have always understood that the payments made by householders were made to coolies unconnected with and indepen- dent of the contractor. I should like to hear Mr. McCallum on that point,
HONGKONG BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE OFFICERS' ASSOCIATION.
On Thursday evening Captain H. C. A. Barris read a paper at the rooms of the Hongkong Bri- tish Mercantile Marine Officer's Association on "Our association: its members and their pecu. liarities."
Captain Harris prefaced his paper by stating that it had often been suggested that the mem- bers of the Association should have a series of readings and he thought the sugges« tion was an excellent one. He had there- fore given the idea a start by addressing a few words about themselves. The Associa- tion had been in existence for five years and had started from a humble beginning. It had been successful in its endeavours to abolish Sunday cargo work, and it was now sought to get the British certificate only for the British. subject. He did not say that they had more right to be employed under their own flag, but they constantly heard about the scarcity of British seamen, that there were not men enough to man our ships, and that there were not so many as there used to be, while there were always a good many foreigners ready to serve. He believed that better behaviour was expected of Jack than in former times, but he did not believe that the Dutchman was the better man. When Jack...; was drunk he wanted to fight, but when there was serious trouble it was. Haus who stuck the knife into the first mate and not Jack. The reader then spoke of the various classes of mem- bers in the Association and their peculiarities, and said that what was needed was more esprit de corps. This was the only British Association in the Far East, and yet the members did not hang to- gether very well. If they took fifty-five members they would be sure to give vent to fifty various opinions. The Association was sadly in want of the recruiting spirit. The speaker concluded by asking for the opinions of members, but no one ventured to offer any, and Captain Harris said that the members did not take a live interest in the Association. There were twenty members in port, and yet only seven were present. One member said that as a rule the members liked to stop aboard at night; the ship was his home. Captain Harris then remarked that he would be very much more pleased if he were at home than speaking in that room. It was an extraordinary thing that although this was the third shipping port in the world, they could not make a very strong Association. The average life of a
mau as a member was about five mouths; and he did not suppose there were more than twenty names on the list of members who had been connected with the Association more than twelve months.
A Tainanfu telegram of the 24th February to the N. C. Daily News says:-The military authorities here have captured a man supposed to be consected with a band of Japanese emis. saries, who are believed to have caused the recent disastrous explosion at the Ch'ik ou forts. loss of life is estimated at a little over 200, but the destruction of the arms and ammunition stored up in those forts is said to amount to very large sum.
The
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