276
on
so much on account of the plague as account of their fear of the Government, lest their goods should be seized and burned,
bence rather than and
to have their from away
them they possessions taken leave. I am told that from 15,000 to 20,000 people have left the colony. No doubt the fears of many of these Chinese are groundless and the Government in cleansing and white- washing certain houses is in the right, but it is often the case that the poorer Chinese meet with a great loss in the burning of their wooden partition walls. I visited myself the scene of the cleaning and in one place these walls were not taken away, which of course pleased the inmates, while on another floor in the same house these walls were taken away, much to the consternation of the people, who complained of poverty. It seems to me that this cleaning could be accomplished without producing such & panic among the Chinese. The people ought to be assured that their goods will not be wantonly destroyed, and the greatest possible care taken to preserve the property of the Chinese which is not a menace to good health. The cleaning and the whitewashing is perfectly proper and I think most Chinese would welcome the assistance of the Government were it not for the fact that they fear some damage may be done to their possessions. of the school officers of the Government asked my assistance in case the whitewashers came to his house, thus showing the dread in which the Government is held. The time has come when steps onght to be taken to induce the people to remain at their homes, and not seek safety by flight. I believe most Chinese would willingly clean their own properly notified that they must do it. With all the sanitary arrangements in Hongkong it is still a question whether a greater per cent.. die of the plague in Canton with no particular stringent sanitary regulatious than in this well regulated colony. There may be a slight differ. ence in favour of Hongkong, but I think it is only slight as far as I have been able to observe. I am suite sure that physicians in Hongkong see more cases than we of Canton. This dis. ease was in certain parts of this province as early as 1890 and it seems to have its seasons of virulent outbreak and again its seasons of repose, and little has as yet been able to be done for its extermination. I should suggest moderation.
One
houses if
C. R. HAGER, M.D., Manager of American Board Schools. Rev. E. J. Eitel, Ph.D..
Inspector of Public Schools.
London Mission, March 13th, 1896. Dear Dr. Eitel,-In reply to your inquiry of
to-day's date I suggest that the diminished attendance of pupils at Chinese Schools is caused by-
(a) The alarming rumours concerning another outbreak of plague in the colony. A few days after the New Year festivities were ended the Chinese began to leave Hongkong in large numbers. The exodus continues; I am in formed on good authority that the Canton steamers are now carrying away from the colony many more passengers than is usual at this sea- son of the year.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
there is another cause which is likely to reduce permanently the number of pupils. The alteration in the structural arrangement of houses by the pulling down of cocklofts and mezzanine floors has deprived the poorer families of Chinese of the necessary house room. It will, I think, be found on examination that the enforcement of the law dealing with cocklofts has driven out of the colony numbers of women and children. Family life on the same scale and under the same conditions as before is now impossible. Rents are extravagantly high and the accommoda- tion is altogether too limited. The consequence is that whilst men remain their families depart. Your note makes special reference to the central parts of the town. I learn on in- quiry that the rents which last year in .not quite prohibitive that quarter to the poorer Chinese are so now. Two girls' schools under my management, one in Chinese Street and one in Lai-yun Street, are now closed, the reason given in both instances being that rents are dear and families have removed from the neighbourhood.
were
[April 1, 1896.
be prevalent. In fact under such conditions it is a wise step to close the schools. I think the parents of children are, if anything, to be commended for removing their children to what they consider to be a place of compara- tive safety.
The President-It appears to me to be the duty of the schoolmasters, especially those who receive Government grants, to teach their pupils better in such matters. Harl this been done in the first place there might possibly be now no necessity for the steps that are being taken.
The Acting Colonial Surgeon-The regulations must be enforced. Vague statements of ill treatment, harshness, &c., cannot be entertained unless specific instances are given. The Chinese, who are sadly ignorant of sanitary matters, must be educated up to them, and these school- masters should, one would think, be one channel by means
of which this can be done.
The Acting Captain Superintendent of Police—Vague assertions of ill treatment by the police which have been rebutted ad nauseam. Rents are frightfully high (for all classes). I agree with Mr. Ede the time has arrived for the Government to consider some comprehensive scheme for housing the poor. Thus only can overcrowd- ing and its attendant evils be met and mastered.
Mr. Ede-The complaints about harshness and the way in which the sanitary regulations are carried out bave been replied to by the Secretary and the Medical Officer of
Health and I think it may be left to them to tako, such It seems to me that the time has come when
further steps as may be necessary to ensure that the people shall be treated with kindness and consideration. Like the Government might consider the question of housing the working classes of Chinese. It
in all such things there is probably a modicum of truth in is surely desirable to encourage family life the complaints and a good deal of exaggeration, but as among the Hongkong Chinese, apart together long as we have the plague in our midst it is of the utmost from the questions connected with the schools.nportance that the sanitary measures now being carried Believe me, yours very truly.
Rev. Dr. Eitel.
T. W. PEARCE.
Friday, 13th March, 1896. Dear Dr. Eitel-In answer to yours of this morning I think you will find that the thinning of the schools (already small enough) began when the house to house visitation began. The turning out of the house has now increased the The disturbance and unrest of the people. tearing down of cocklofts and cubicles is also necessarily driving away many families from their accustomed dwellings and the greater num- ber of them are fleeing to the country. They flec, not from fear of plague as a rule, but from I know well that the Government measures. these measures are most necessary, but when I was trying to show this to the teacher of the Kau-ü-long school she answered, "We know that the Government regulations are good. It is not that; it is the way they are carried out."
I am greatly distressed about my schools. To-day Aberdeen Street had no scholars at all. Of course the state of the street is enough to account for this, and I quite think that when the cleaning is over and things have quieted down somewhat that many will return to school. But even Wanchai Chapel school is very very small. The people say "We shall all be going to the country presently. What is the use of sending the children to school ?" Only Tang- hing-chan and the Fletcher Street school are at all promising. The people will not send their children to school when there is disturbance of
any kind abroad.
I do hope that matters will soon improve and the children come back. But there is far more plague about than the authorities know of. The people flee to the country.Very sincerely
yours,
:
H. DAVIES.
The Colonial Secretary (to the Governor)- Submitted. Refer to Sanitary Board for any observations it may have to offer ?-16.3.96.
(b) Coupled with the above as a cause of non- attendance at schools is the extreme disfavour with which certain precautionary measures taken by the Government are viewed by the Chinese. I refer to the means now being taken to pre-regulations. One of the writers says vent the spread of the plague epidemio. The searching of dwelling houses, the enforced sani- tation by washing and limewashing is looked upon with repugnance and even with alarm. Rather than submit to it the Chinese prefer to leave the colony.
His Excellency (to Colonial Secretary)-To Sanitary Board. It is impossible to alter the
(c) Compulsory residence in boats for a period of ten days is regarded as particularly oppressive and odious. This the Chinese say is the law to which all must conform who have lived in a house where there has been a case of plague. They point out that exposure to the inclement weather at this season of the year is highly dan- gerous to health, and rather than risk such ex- posure by remaining in dwelling houses, where plague may break out, they submit to the incon- venience and expense of removal from the colony, (d) Whilst the above mentioned causes affect temporarily the attendance at Chinese schools
“it is
the way they are carried out." If this can fairly be modified of course I have not the least objection.
The following minutes were attached. The Secretary Submitted. It is a queer thing that of this department are guilty of harshness and rudeness in dealing with the Chinese in the various districts. had a very considerable experience in the manner in which the officers of this department perform their duties and I am satisfied that for every instance of rudeness on
such readiness, should be shown to believe that the officers
I have
their part there are at least a hundred on the part of the people they have to deal with. So far as the working classes are concerned the rudeness consists in insulting remarks made to each other in the hearing of the Inspec- tors. It is done deliberately and with the evident desire to cause annoyance. With the well-to-do classes the rude. ness consists in the contemptuous demeanour these classes know so well how to adopt. I believe it is a well known fact that school attendance always diminishes in most
countries when a violent infectious disease is known to
out should be extinued in the interests of the Chinese themselves, especially the poorer classes. It might be well and do good if a judiciously worded proclamation were issued explaining these matters to the people. As regards rents, or rather the cost of lodgings, I think there is no doubt that they are too high for the poorer classes, and the removal of cubicles and other sub-divisions of tenements may have helped to raise them; but to my mind unless some well considered scheme be adopted to abate overcrowding, to resume, redrain, lay out, and re- build on proper principles at least the worst sections of the town, we shall never make any really permanent progress towards immunity from filth disease. I think this ought to be considered soon.
The Medical Officer of Health-The last paragraph of the letter signed by C. R. Hager, M.D., displays an alarm- ing degree of ignorance of the nature and spread of infes tious diseases and apparently counsels the adoption of the essentially Chinese custom of Laisses faire in regard to all sanitary regulations and improvements. The physicians of Hongkong see extremely few cases of plague, either in their private practice or at the missionary hospitals, and were it not that the native hospital, Tung Wab, is under the supervision of the Colonial Surgeon we should doubt- less feel equally self-satisfied and confident of our exemp tion from this disease as those in Canton apparently do. Fortunately, however, for the good of the colony, we go out of our way to seek these infectious cases, and to give one instance alone I have personally discovered no less than thirty-four deaths from plague among the deaths regis. tered by the Registrar-General during the past six weeks, the causes of death having been variously registered as intermittent fever, phthisis, bronchitis, &c., while many other deaths discovered by the police or the Sanitary inspectors, before registration, have also been found by me to have been due to plague. One of the writers com- plains that the objections of the people are not so much to the regulations themselves, but to the way they are. carried out. I can quite understand this, for the Chinese way of carrying out Government regulations in their own country is to exempt those who pay a suficient amount of backsheesh and they find that the officials of this Government make no such exemptions, but deal with each case solely on its merits. If the house is already clean, it is not cleaned; if the cubicles and cocklofts are
legal, they are not interfered with; but if on the other hand the premises are filthy, as were all those which have
hitherto been dealt with, no amount of bribery will exempt the tenants from the necessary cleansing processes. "I can only repeat that I have emphatically impressed upon the several inspectors the necessity for the exercise of great discretion and moderation in their dealings with the poor, and from my personal observations at unexpected- times I believe they are faithfully carrying out these in- structions.
Mr. EDE-I should like for some scheme to be taken in hand as soon as possible. I believe these papers have gone before the Government and they have come to us. I move that the papers, together with the minutes of the various members, be forwarded to the Colonial Secretary for the information of His Excellency the Governor.
The PRESIDENT seconded. Carried.
A NUISANCE AT THE TUNG WAH
HOSPITAL,
The following correspondence was read concerning a notice to abate a nuisance which existed at the Tung Wah Hospital:
:
12th March, 1896. The Po Loung Kuk has been in the habit of making use of the verandah of the P'eng On Ward for the accommodation of male destitutes. We have now received an order from the Sani- tary Board instructing us not to allow people to live on the verandah. We the fore report to