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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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The CAPTAIN SuperintendeNT OF POLICE said he should like to point out that as by law these places had been declared infected, vessels coming from these places were bound to go into the quarantine anchorage, but there was such a thing as making a modification of the law, and it would be a very simple matter to withdraw the quarantine laws and withdraw | the doctor and put him on other duty. He thought that now they were getting 39 or 40 cases a day it was like looking for a needle in a bundle of hay to try to pick a solitary plague patient out of 1,900 or 2,000 passengers. thought the time had got beyond the stage for the medical inspection of steamers from Macao and Canton. He believed Dr. Home would be far better employed doing his daily work and allowing Dr. Thomson, who had got more work than he could get through, to devote his time to the Tung Wa Hospital and the branch hos- pital and the hospital at Kennedy town. He begged leave to move that the Government being cubicles of new wood rather than giving asked to discontinue the medical inspection of money compensation, but there is no doubt the vessels coming from the ports named.
whole colony must be treated alike where it is ascertained that the people are too poor to re- erect the cubicles themselves.
The DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS, in seconding, remarked that a passenger who came down in a vessel from one of these places told him the inspection was a thorough farce. There were some 2,000 passengers on board, and to have inspected these passengers thoroughly would have taken many hours. No good was done by the passengers passing the doctors as quickly as they could, and considerable inconvenience was caused to the passengers and to the owners of the steamers.
The PRESIDENT proposed as an amendment that the Government be written to in the sense of his minute. With reference to the remarks of the gentleman who seconded Mr. May's motion, he must say that he did not know what grounds he had for stating that the inspection was a thorough farce. He did not know whether he meant medically, because he (the President) was more or less responsible; as the doctors re-
ceived their instructions from Dr. Jordan at his (the President's) written request.
The CAPTAIN SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE -How long do you think the medical inspec- tion of 1,800 passengers would occupy in the or dinary course if thoroughly carried out?
The PRESIDENT-I think they might be ex. *mined for the purpose of detecting plague or smallpox in three hours.
The CAPTAIN SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE One minute each.
The PRESIDENT said they could examine four or fire in a minute. There were two doctors employed-one in the morning from six to nine, and he knew he frequently finished his work before nine; and another who was employed from half past two to six. He did not know so much about the latter. He did not know how long it took him, but he had frequently seen the other one at the hospital before nine o'clock, and he had then examined (all the ships that required examination.
Mr. EDE, in seconding the amendment, said that having declared these ports infected he did not see how they could go back, though he would like to see a modification of the regulations.
The amendment was carried. COMPENSATION FOR CUBICLES DESTROYED,
The CAPTAIN SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE wrote on April 27th:-"I have had the attached list of cubicles and cocklofts which have been removed, and I believe for the most part des troyed, by the cleansing gangs in No. 9 health district, drawn up from the register kept by the Police Sergeant in charge of the gangs. Iu view of the fact that the inhabitants in the locality are very poor, I think the Board should take into consideration whether it should not recommend some compensation for at any rate the cubicles destroyed. The cocklofts were no doubt all illegal and no compensation should be made for them. I mentioned the matter to Mr. Bryan, and I gathered he was in favour of compensation, but I think this paper (if the Board is prepared to entertain the question of recommending compensation) should be sent in the first instance to Mr. Bryan for his views, it should be remembered that rice is very dear.
Minutes appended :----
The MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH sub- mitted that this be sent to Mr. Bryan in the first instance, as he was the inspecting officer in charge of No. 9 Health District. The only difficulty that presents itself to
[May 14, 1898,
my mind is that exception cannot well be made that practically there was a rice famine at the in respect of one health district. The whole present time. He had made enquiries and had colony must be treated alike in such found that strictly speaking, there was no rice matter a8 this, and personally I would famine at all. There had been a corner in prefer to use the money spent on the erection rice in Canton with the result that the price of clean cubicles (of new wood) in the place of had gone up slightly. The price of rice at the those which have been demolished. In the present moment was 20 catties for the dollar. district in which I have been acting as inspect- | Last March it was 18 catties, so that evidently iug officer scarcely any cubicles have been the corner was broken. Last year was a prosperous demolished at all, as I recognised that they were year and 22 catties were sold for a dollar. Com- the homes of the Chinese families, and their paring last year with the present they said that retention was as far as possible absolutely rice had gone up from 22 catties per dollar to 20 necessary, but I have not hesitated to condemn catties per dollar, which was a very small rise many cocklofts in rooms in which cubicles in price. The difficulty which he foresaw in existed, and for these cocklofts I agree with the giving money compensation was that it would Vice-President no compensation should be be almost impossible to prove the ownership given.
of these cubicles. They would have claims The PRESIDENT-I am in favour of recom- coming in from different people for the mending that compensation should be granted same cubicle and having once paid one claim, for cubicles destroyed.
whether right or wrong, it would not be possi- Mr. N. J. EDE-I am in favour of re-erect-ble to pay others. Unfortunately the Chinese names were so much alike and there were so few of them distributed among so many that Mr. Kwok So and So might be duplicated a hundred times over. He begged leave to move, with the view to more mature consideration, that the matter be considered that day three months.
The MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH-If money compensation is given cubicles composed of old and rotten woodwork will be re-erected. Let the board erect cubicles properly ar- ranged and of new wood by contract in such cases.
The DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS-I am in favour of re-erecting the cubicles-uo money compensation.
The CAPTAIN SuperintendenT OF POLICE -I recommended money compensation because the cubicles have all been replaced already. The people can't live without them. Mr. Bryan's re- port is required. In 5 and 6 health districts few cubicles have been destroyed, and they were the property of persons who could quite well afford to erect new ones. The worst were found in sly brothels.
A discussion ensued.
The PRESIDENT-These papers have been before you, and the general opinion appears to be to grant compensation for cubicles destroyed.
The ACTING REGISTRAR-GENERAL said the people whose cubicles were destroyed were not altogether penniless. They did not find penni- less tenants going to the expense of putting up cubicles. A man put them up as a speculation, and if he did not keep them in repair he ought to pay for it.
Dr.
The CAPTAIN SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE said there was not a word in his communication about a rice famine. He said, "In view of the fact that the inhabitants in the locality are very poor, I think the Board should take into consi- deration whether it should not recommend some compensation for, at any rate, the cubicles des- troyed." He did not say anything about the dearness of rice. He should just like to mention that No. 9 district was the only district in the city where there had been an extensive removal of cubicles and destruction of the same. Clark, he thought, had mentioned that in the districts he was working he had hardly had any cubicles destroyed. The people in No. 9 district were very poor, and in his opinion they really ought to be compensated. He did not think it would be so difficult a matter as Dr. Clark thought. The police knew pretty well the houses and the people where the cubicles had been re- moved, They could вау how many cubicles were to be compensated for and how much they were going to give for each cubicle, and a police inspector and an officer of the Board could be sent round to doll out the compensation. The whole thing could be done in a day and it would be finished. Therefore, if they were going to do it at all, they ought to act on the old Latin pro- verb and do it at once.
The PRESIDENT-No one has seconded Dr. Clark's motion.
The ACTING REGISTRAR-GENERAL-I second If you do provide compensation for disturb- ance it may have a good effect, but I do not think it has been shown yet that the people who put up these cubicles deserved to be com- pensated.
On the matter being put to the vote three voted for and three against, whereupon the Pre- sident gave his casting vote against.
The ACTING SECRETARY read a report from Mr. Bryan, who said he was certainly of opinion that compensation should be granted to those persons who could not afford to re-erect their cubicles. From enquiries he had made the per- it. centage of such persons would be very small. When new ones had been erected in place of those pulled down it only showed that the people were able to pay for their re-erection. If the Board decided to compensate the owners of the cubicles pulled down there were three points which should be considered. One was that some of these cubicles were removed on account of their having cock-lofts over them. Then orders were given by him that all good wood should be given back to the owners, and he had since ascertained that this bad been done. Then in a number of cases it was found that the cubicles had already been taken down and the wood taken away. No doubt these old cubicles would be re-erected. He thought 300 was a fair estimate of the number ordered to be
taken down, but for the reasons stated abore the number to be considered in any claim for compensation would be somewhat less.
Mr. EDE-Will it be possible to know who are and who are not able to pay for the re-erection of their cubicles ? That is where I think the difficulty will come in.
The MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH said he was prepared to move that this matter be considered that day three months. They had a report from Mr. Bryan in which he said some of these cubicles were illegal. Some of those destroyed were insanitary and should not have existed, and they learned that in the majority of
cases the cubicles had been re-erected by the tenants. The fact that they had been re-erected only showed that the tenants were not so poverty-stricken as one would suppose. The argument brought for ward by the Captain Superintendent of Police, who suggested the giving of compensation, was
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The CAPTAIN SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE -As the majority of the Board seem in favour of recommending the Government to grant compensation I beg to suggest that the paper be referred back to Mr. Bryan and myself for a report in order to put the thing in some definate shape.
Mr. EDE seconded and the motion was car. ried.
A WISE PRECAUTION.
The ACTING SECRETARY submitted corres- pondence re the advisability of the removal of cattle sheds and swine pens from near the tem- porary branch Tang Wa Hospital, and on the motion of the Captain Superintendent of Police, seconded by the President, it was decided that the secretary should communicate with the owner of the adjoining property and ask if he will allow the pig pens to be placed there temporarily.
APPLICATION ·FOR A MAT-SHED LODGING
HOUSE AT COSMOPOLITAN DOCK.
An application for permission to erect a mat- shed at Cosmopolitan Dock to be used as a lodging house for employés has been received. The request has been circulated among the members of the Sanitary Board and the replies. show them to be favourable to the application.
The MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH said he was strongly opposed to granting this license.
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