264
whether the edicts are issued in a genuine spirit of repentance or not, the best answer to them is not diplomatic hesitation, but firm and rapid action, which will strengthen the reviving Reform party, if indeed it is reviving, or will show the futility of "bluff," if that is what is intended.
MARKET ACCOMMODATION IN HONGKONG.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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if
[October 6, 1900.
m108-
between the hours of 3 and 5 any afternoon, j during the cold dry weather which would A beginning in when the Chinese are peparing one or other otherwise kill them off. of their two chief meals. There cannot be this direction might be made on the various the slightest doubt that a lot of meat and roads leading from the lower levels to the fish, otherwise unsalable in the Queen's | Peak; they are all, in very many places, far Road markets, is thus got rid of by these too thickly overgrown. Ubiquitous grass- enterprising individuals. These men gener- cutters will, without being asked to do so, ally gather at a crossing, whence they have clear off all grass; it affords them a more or an uninterrupted view up and down several less succulent food for cattle in the wet ways of approach. On the occasional
season, and cheap firing or stable-bedding leisurely arrival of the European constable in the winter months. The many coarse (Daily Press, 5th October.)
of the district, they disappear, as if by weeds, however, that spring up so rapidly by All unbiased readers, we feel sure, will magic, down some of the neighbouring alleys the roadside, especially on rubbish dumped heartily approve of Mr. OSBORNE's motion, and lanes, to re-appear when he is out of down and left from building operations, are unanimously supported at the last Sanitary sight. They are fully acquainted with the of no use as fodder, littering, or fuel, and Board meeting, that the Government be deliberate regular movements of the sleepy growand spread unchecked, unless rooted As this latter function appears to asked to provide a suitable market in Tsim- lukong and dreamy Indian policeman of the up, shatsui for the especial convenience of Eu- beat. Moreover, they are aided in their belong to no one in particular, they grow in ropeans resident on the Peninsula That such constant outlook for these "preservers of the tangled confusion, a menace to the public a necessary building is not already in exist-peace," by mobs of sharp-eyed quick-witted health. Paths leading to houses and turfed ence is a matter for legitimate surprise and ngau-wong-taai who infest .such localities, banks should all be regularly attended to. complaint. It is an established and incon- and who are as alert as any London street- Servants should not be permitted to throw trovertible fact that markets, on whatever arab or Paris gamin. A big part of this away broken crockery, empty butter-tins part of the island or mainland, have always clandestine trade in fresh animal food and jam-cans into any odd corner out of been a safe and sound investment; while would be at once and inevitably sight. This may seem a trifle, but a heavy latterly they have yielded almost pheno-scotchied
ณ market were erected shower falls, the cast-away articles are filled menal returns. The city of Victoria itself, anywhere on the levelled and vacant land with rain-water, and being wholly undis- in this considerable matter of market accom- to the east of the Tung-wa Hospital. This turbed become prolific centres 'of modation, is far from being satisfactory. ought to be done straight away. The need quito life. The aspect of the sides of the The exorbitant rents exacted for dwellings is most urgent. While a permanent build- Peak Road, from the Tram Station at Plan- fitted for Chinese of the respectable working ing was being put up, a temporary matshed tation Road, down to the first European and coolie classes, in the streets immediately or wooden structure could be run up hard houses just above Queen's Gardens, is not off Queen's Road, have driven whole clans of by, as any number of valuable sites are lying what it once was, and certainly not what it these people higher up the hill. Tenements idle. The venture would be a paying con- should be. Before the tram-line was laid, that formerly were almost exclusively in- cern from the outset. Fresh food can at this road was the main, indeed the only, habited by the poorer sections of the Eu- least he inspected, and its sale regulated, in thoroughfare for those resident at the Peak. ropean community are now wholly mono- a public market, whereas, furtively sold at At the present moment it is practically polised by the native labouring classes. street-corners, it is beyond all efficient used solely by natives. The Conservancy Carpenters, tinsmiths, bootmakers, washer-sanitary control. Neither buyers nor sellers coolies are huge sinners in respect of the men, and so forth, who of old were almost can be wholly blamed for existing irregulari- amount of matter dropped, accidentally or entirely located in and about the thorough- ties: it is a convenience to the former to otherwise, over the wayside as they stagger fares on the Praya level, have, in quite a have articles of every-day consumption down with their burdens. No doubt the number of instances, migrated up the hill, brought to their doorstep; it is a sore tempta- Sanitary Board will, in time, be able more where landlords are less unreasonable in tion to the latter to sell inferior food-stuffs thoroughly to control the men guilty of this. their demands. This somewhat sudden that for sundry reasons they might find The rooting up of undergrowth by road- shifting of great masses of the population | left on their hands in open market. The sides and in nullahs, the better regulation has brought in its train many attendant Government, or rather that Department of of the Conservancy coolies, and such kindred disadvantages. The markets, which once it whose duty it is to attend to the righting matters, will have to be seriously taken in were in the middle of their customers, are of such matters, deserves the gravest censure hand, if any organised movement is to be not now so central, so readily got at. Ap- for allowing this discreditable and danger- initiated to oust the mosquito, and with it parently, the Government has made no ous state of affairs to continue unnoticed malaria, from amongst us. The expenditure arrangement to meet this altered state of and unremedied.
of a few hundreds, or even thousands of things. Time, labour, and money are each
dollars, on this highly important duty of and all as valuable to the humble native
utterly destroying the mosquito's habitat toilers in Hongkong as to Europeaus in
must be regarded with equanimity. We Tsimshatsui; and the arguments so vigor-
must think of the many thousands of pounds ously and eloquently marshalled by Mr.
(Doily Press, 29th September.)
sterling lavished in Australia in attempts OSBORNE, on behalf of the Tsimshatsui During the Congress of the Royal Institute to check the multiplication of the rabbit people, have equal weight and cogency when of Public Health, held this year at Aberdeen, and of the enormous outlay incurred in the applied to Chinese needs in Hongkong. The Dr. PATRICK MANSON, whom all old resi- United States to get rid of the common people who on grounds of economy have dents here remember, gave a lecture entitled sparrow: though these were not the direct been driven to live higher up the hill Malaria a Sanitary Problem," which was danger to human life that the different species find their supplies of food much less the feature of the Congress. The lecturer of culicidae are. Now that so much trained accessible than when living in the neighbour-pointed out that maiaria, in spite of some attention is being bestowed on this particu- hood of Queen's Road. In most cases, their what recent sporadic outbreaks, as an in-lar by-path of entomology, we shall no precarious mode of livelihood forces them to digenous disease had ceased to exist in doubt learn, eventually, that other diseases get their slender stores of fish, flesh, and Great Britain. He further said that the indigenous to the tropics are directly due vegetables fresh for each frugal meal; and problem of the prevention of malaria in to inoculation by the mosquito. Maiaria the time consumed in going to and fro to our tropical colonies and possessions was and elephantiasis are already a heavy score make these purchases several times each one of the gravest that the Colonial Office against this pest, and alone warrant the day is far from inconsiderable. To sur-. of late years had been called on to grapple most strenous efforts being put forth to mount this formidable difficulty, a number with. Although locally our reputation in exterminate it. Ailments hitherto attribut- of pork-vendors and fresh fish hawkers carry the matter of malaria stands higher than ed to the miasmata exhaled from rank their wares up the hill. In spite of the extra that of those parts of the Dark Continent tropical vegetation, to climatic conditions, or trouble this entails, apart from the serious known as "the white man's grave," the pre- to the disturbance of soil composed of dis- risks incurred for the hawking of live fish valence and virulence of the disease here is integrating granite, must now be ascribed and unsalted pork is strictly illegal - their sufficiently alarming to justify every effort to the subcutaneous transmission effected prices are practically the same as those being made to lessen its relentless ravages. by the mosquito. The proboscis of the charged at the stalls in the markets below. As Dr. MANSON has said, the matter is one mosquito, as revealed to us beneath the This should naturally arouse suspicion as to of sanitation: and this outstanding fact magnifying eye of the microscope, is indeed the quality of the commodities they expose cannot be too frequently reiterated, nor too a marvellously constructed organ. It is a for sale. To what a large extent this pok-prominently kept in mind. As noted by perfectly equipped case of the most delicate t'au sháng-i, this shoulder-borne traffic, is
surgical instruments. Here are its contents prosecuted, and the law thereby set at
named in order of use: the keenest of naught, is evident to any
one who cares to
lancets; a pair of fine-toothed saws, set back saunter through the qu
quarters we are allud-
to back; a powerful suction-tube, through ing to, either about 8.80 in the morning or
which the blood of its victim is drawn; and
LA
MALARIA AND LOCAL SANITATION,
Dr. CLARK in the Reports last week before the Sanitary Board, all kind of dense under growth should be scrupulously kept down, particularly if near human habitations; it affords warmth and shelter to mosquitoes