December 24, 1898.]
ode.
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
way of commerce, in the partial paralysis of trade and that sort of thing, would be very great indeed-far greater than the cost of any measures which might be taken to cope with it. The PRESIDENT I think before as a Board we recommend the Government--
The VICE-PRESIDENT It is not seconded yet. Dr. CLARK-I will formally second the motion.
Shanghai Bank, that he had shipped 10 bales of once. In a case of this sort it was necessary fure, and produced a bill of lading and insurance to take steps to prevent the introduction of policy to that effect. Mr. Leopold, under a plague as soon as it commenced in any of the letter of credit from C. M. Lambron & Co. of cities or villages of China, because he under- London was authorised to draw on furs shipped stood that when it was introduced each patient by him. The Bank bought Mr. Leopold's bills was a centre of infection-he supposed he of exchange and placed the amounts to his polluted the air and that sort of thing. Of credit. The conditions were that he gave the course this was better understood by the medi- Bank complete shipping documents, which cal men. It was a most serious thing when were hypothecated to the Bank. Accordingly plague once got into the colony. Some of them on the 31st December Mr. Leopold drew a bill remembered the plague of 1894, which took of exchange for £1,250, at four months sight. them by surprise and which had got well On same date Mr. Leopold wrote to the Bank, a established before they took steps to stamp it letter of advice, covering B.L. and insurance out. One case had already come in from this policy for 10 bales furs, purporting to be ship recrudescence at Canton. A case came by ped per Hohenzollern, and asking to have his u junk at West Point brought down, he account credited with the amount. The appli- believed, from Canton, so be thought no cations to the Bank on the subsequent occasions time should be lost in taking steps to were identically the same, with the difference combat the plague. There was an old adage only of the number and marks of the bales. The which was much quoted nowadays which letter was accompanied by invoice, shipping said that to preserve peace they must be documents, and insurance policy of the Londou prepared for war, and now they were free from Assurance Co. The B.L. and policy of insur. plague was the time to be prepared for its ance bore the genuine signature of H. Ahrens attack upon them. It might be said that the & Co., so that so far Mr. Leopold had carried adoption of his motion would put them to great out the conditions required under his arrange- expense, but they must not forget that if the ment with the Bank and Messrs. Lambson-plague once came into their midst their oss in only he had made the little mistake of not ship ping the furs. Leopold was the confidential clerk and manager of their shipping depart- ment. The system of the firm in their shipping business was
a perfectly satisfactory All cargo for the N. D. L. was handled by a Japanese landing and shipping Co.-the Pier Co. The shipper was given two forms on blue paper, on which the number and marks of goods shipped were filled in; one of these was retained by the Pier Co. and the other given to the shipper as a receipt. From this the Bill of Lading was made out and signed either by Mr. Wismer or Mr. Hoffman. The Pier Co. were provided by Ahrens & Co. with other forms on white paper, which were signed by the officer of the ship and returned to the Pier Co., who would hand the same over to Ahrens and Co. These white forms are not re- turned to Ahrens and Co. til after the steamer has left. They are then checked with the copy of the manifest left in the hand of Ahrens and Co. If the pretended shipments of furs bad been genuine shipments there should have been found these white forms, but none of them had been discovered in connection with the alleged shipments. In addition to the absence of any of these shipping orders, there were also in Yokohama the aptain's copies of the Bills of Lading relating to the goods alleged to have been shipped. These were found in a drawer of of Mr. Leopold's desk in Messrs. Ahrens and Co's. office. The trial was commenced on the 6th December. The indictment occupies, four and a half columns of small type in our Yoko- hama comtemporaries.]
HO. GKONG SANITARY BOALD. The fortnightly meeting of the Hongkong Sanitary Board was held on 22nd December. The President (Dr. J. M. Atkinson Principal Civil Medical Officer) presided and there were also present the Vice-President (the Hon. F. H. May, Captain Superintendent of Police), Mr. J. Dyer Ball (Acting Registrar-General), and Dr. Clark (Medical Officer of Health and Acting Secretary).
THE SCAVENGING CONTRACTS,
Dr. CLARK---The first thing on the ageuds is the conditions of the scavenging contracts for the villages. There are a few corrections.
The PRESIDENT-I move that these altera- tions be sanctioned.
The VICE-PRESIDENT seconded, and the
motion was carried.
THE REPORTED Outbreak of PLAGUE AT
CANTON.
The PRESIDENT said that before they recom. mended the Government to start the medical inspection of passengers arriving from Canton and neighb urhood it would be better if they had some further information with regard to the existence of plague in the district round Canton. Every year at this time sporadic cases had occurred. In the early part of 1897 plague existed in the neighbourhood of Tongki and Canton. He thought it would be more satisfac- tory if they sent someone up to ascertain what the nature of the epidemio was whether it was of any extent or whether it was merely sporadio, In 1897, notwithstanding that there were cases of plague at Tongku and neighbourhood, they had practically none in Hongkong.
Mr. DYER BALL moved-That in view of the recrudescence of plague in Canton and neighbourhood the Government be asked to take steps for the medical inspection of pas- sengers from Canton," whether arriving by river steamer or
or native craft." He remarked that he ought to have given two days' notice, but it was only Wednesday morning that he saw it in the morning paper that there was plague in Canton and neighbourhood, and he thought it would be well for them as & Sanitary Board to take some action in the matter at
Mr. BALL-Would it be advisable to add to the resolution that as a preliminary measure a medical man be seut to make enquiries as to the nature of the epidemic ? I should have no objection to having that added.
The VICE-PRESIDENT That would make it rather contradictory.
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Dr. CLARK-It might read this way, "That in view of the recrudescence of plague in Canton and neighbourhood the Government be asked to take steps for the medical inspection of passengers from Canton, whether arriving by river steamer or native craft, should it prove on further enquiry that such recrudescence has occurred."
521
next meeting.
Dr. CLARK-Let yours stand over until the
Mr. BALL-Yes, I will let it stand over.
and the Vice-President's amendment, which The original motion was then withdrawn,
became the motion, was carried, the PRESIDENT seconding it.
bringing forward his motion again at the next Mr. BALL gave notice of his intention of meeting.
FOOT AND MOUTH DỊỆKASE AT BAST POINT, A report from Mr. Ladds (Colonial Veterinary Surgeon) of the outbreak of foot and month din- ease in Shed C. at East Point Dairy Farm was submitted, and on the motion of the President, seconded by Dr. CLARE, it was decided declare the shed an infected area.
The VICE-PRESIDENT undertook to find men to keep a watch on the place.
MORTALITY RETURNS.
Hongkong for the week ending December 10th The mortality returns for the colony of
previous week and 21.3 for the corresponding show a death rate of 25.1 against 18.6 for the week last year.
The PRESIDENT minuted-"A large in- Eleven deaths, I see, from intermittent fever." crease as compared with the previous week.
The MEDICAL OFFICER OF
44
HEALTH-
This is the diagnosis of a policeman-at Kowloon and at Aberdeen-and not of a medical mau.'
The PRESIDENT-The increase is due to obest diseases.
Dr. CLARK-Yes, the Chinese old people are being killed off by the cold.
The Board then adjourned.
GLENEALY.
19th December.
The work of erecting a hoarding in front of was commenced on Saturday and continued the site of the proposed buildings in Glenealy yesterday, from which it would appear that as yet no effective steps have been taken for the preservation of the ground for the public. The question of expense, we believe, stands in the way of resumption, the lot having £10,000 is reported to be the sum paid for recently changed hands at a high-figure,
the house occupied by the American Con- sulate-General and the land adjoining, on which it is now proposed to build. If houses are to be erected it is to be hoped they will be of a design in keeping with the surroundings. The site is within the European reservation distriot, so that Chinese houses cannot be erected on it.
first of all was that the Government should The VICE-PRESIDENT said the resolution take steps to institute a medical inspection of all passengers arriving from Canton. Experi- ence had shown in the past that such medical inspection was absolutely futile. In the year 1894 it was first instituted and not a single case of plague was discovered. He believed in it again last summer. He thought he was right the year 1896 it was repeated and they repeated
in saying that beyond one dead body-supposed to be that of a person who had died on the way from Canton-no case of plague was discovered. | they could to keep the plague out of the colony, He was quite in favour of doing everything
but he did not see the good of wasting time and money and, what was more important, the efforts of medical men that might be with much greater efficiency utilised on shore in keeping the place in a thoroughly clean and sanitary state than in endeavouring to look for a needle in a bundle of bay in the way of trying to pick out a plague patient from the thousands of coolies who arrived here every day. He begged to propose as an amendment, “That in view of the prevalence of plague in and around Cauton the Government e recommend ed to take steps to ascertain whether such disease is epidemio in Canton and vicinity."
Mr. BALL-1 can quite agree to that.
THE JAPANESE IN FORMOSA.
[FROM A CORRESPONDENT,] It is now three years since the Japanese as sumed charge of Formosan affairs and Japan's considered a success even by the most charitably · first colonial experiment can so far hardly be
disposed. Her officials, on whose shoulders do not impress the outside world as being over the responsibility of sund government rests, scrupulons, and, if the somewhat too frank statements of the Japanese vernacular Press be considered, they are often deserving of the severest censure. It is indeed but a few months ago that the Home Government, urged to action by repeated complaints, was compelled to dis- patch a European adviser to inquire into the reported official maladministration, and his re- port confirmed in detail the accusations of the Press. Although Formosan matters since then have not intruded themselves on public attention to any extent yet the latest reports from respon- sible foreigners living on the island show that but little improvement has been made in the Government. Japanese official corruption may happily be less, and we give the Japanese the credit of believing that it has diminished. but as far as practical control of internal affairs is concerned Formosa appears to be as badly off, if not worse, than when governed by the Chinese. The whole official system appears to be out-at- elbows, and whilst the Japanese have occasionally to reap the whirlwind of slack government yet it is on the head of the industrious merchant and agriculturist that the evil mostly falls. From the latest accounts to hand the plight of the unbappy native is indeed miserable. Regulated strictly on one hand by Ordinances "made
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