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"it was fel', as indeed it already is, by the European community. Many European "houses are even now occupied by the Chi- nese, and if this Bill becomes law, still more will be so occupied, and the Euro- peans will have to bid one against the "other whenever a house becomes vacant, 'Only a few weeks ago rents were put up 20 per cent. on a large number of European "houses owned by one firm, and the same movement is going on in all directions. Considering that the population is daily "increasing, the outlook in the matter "of house accomodation is alarming, unless "the Government take some energetic steps to open up more building sites. "The point is one the Goverment has "under its consideration, and we believe they do not underestimate the gravity of the situation. But whatever relief
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may be afforded, it can only come gradually, and some years must necess- arily pass before the stringency of house accomodation begins to slucken. Cau anything be more ill-judged than to "introduce a measure against overcrowding "in the height of a crisis like the present, "when people are compelled by the irresist- "ible force of circumstances crowd "together?"
to
Earlier in the same article we said "There is not plenty of space, and to "enact that a man shall have at least 300 "feet when there is not 300 feet for him is
absurd."
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This then is a sample of the way in which the Hon. F. H. MAY thinks it right to quote and refrain from quoting. He will scarcely, we imagine, coûtend that it is ingenuous. But of course the Secretary of State for the Colonies has time to turn up the context of the Hon. F. H. MAY's quotations.
no
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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[August 3, 1901.
¡.F. H. Mat's defence amounts to this, that We accept the statement that the Acting the Government in the past has been afraid Principal Civil Médical Officer made the of the landlords, and in spite of a perpetual latter romark; but we know as a fact that majority of Official Members on the Council several other doctors of at least equal ability has consented not to do its duty by the have maintained the opposite and that they Colony in sanitary matters. In this case have themselves seen after their patients when the Government has little cause to thank strictly speaking these should have been in its champion for the manner in which he, the hands of the Hospital Staff. There are whitewashes its character.
certain crises in plague when the responsi- We may now turn to the long memoran- ' bility for drastic action can only be expected dum signed jointly by the Hon. J. H. from the doctor himself. Moreover, it is STEWART LOCKHART, the Hon. W.CHATHAM, known that Dr. THOMSON himself has been and the Hon. F. H. MAY. This professes in ill health and would have gone ou leave to be an answer to the Petition itself. could he have been spared. It is a piece of After referring to the enclosures of which good fortune which has enabled the Kennedy- we have already spoken, the memorandum town authorities to get through the epidemic says (section 3):-ʻ Anyone who reads without a breakdown, and had such occurred these statements cannot fail to see that the scandal would not have been the fault of whilst the Government of this Colony has the staff, but of the Government which shut. "realised how important and necessary it is its eyes persistently to that staff's inadequacy. that the sanitation of Hongkong should | As to the Sanitary Staff, the writers of the be placed in a satisfactory state, and has memorandum are satisfied to point out that spent large sums of money with a view to the number of Sanitary inspectors was improve its sanitary condition, it has had fixed at twenty by a Select Conimittee of "to contend against many difficulties, not the Sanitary Board in 1899, that there is the least of which has been that opposition also a highly trained Chief Inspector of to Saunary Legislation which is described Nuisances (who has left on account of "in the review above." The memorandum ill-health), and that we have a larger then proceeds to take the arguments of the staff than they have at Newcastle. Petition seriatim, with the object of showing They also mention that three trained In- that all but three of Mr. CHADWICK's recom- spectors were applied for early this year and mendations have been carried out, and that two more recently. None of these remarks only two of the others might have been furnish any excuse for the fact that we have carried out earlier. On the way, Drs. AYRES, not had a staff sufficient to cope with what Lowson, and CLARK are treated with scant has been asked of them and that in con- respect by the Government in whose service sequence there has been a remissness, which they have been or still are, and the implica the Government is content to put on to the tion is conveyed that the Sanitary Board, shoulders of the Sanitary Board. not the Government, is responsible for any remissness in the matter of sanitary in- spection. We would like to call Captain- Superintendent MAY's attention to what he said on this question at the Sanitary Board meeting on the 19th July, 1894. But" dcubtless a change of view in an official is more commendable than it is in a mere We drew attention yesterday to the way ordinary individual. In an airy way the in which the Hon. F. H. MAY, in his report question about limewashing in the villages on the measures giving effect to Mr. is dismissed, the memorandum saying: "It CHADWICK's recommendations of 1882, mis- must not be forgotten that under the exist, represented the attitude of this paper ing law a householder whose dwelling is toward a proposal of the Government. in found to be in a dirty condition can be 1887. A very superficial reference to the required to cleanse and limewash it within file of the Daily Press will show that we a week." This provision seems to those have constantly been urging on the Govern- who drew up the memorandum sufficient to ment the necessity of sanitary reforms. ensure cleanliness in villages without the This does not, of course, mean that we have biennial compulsory limewashing enforced always taken the same view as the Govern- in the City. It must not be forgotten, we ment on the measures to be adopted. In should rather add, that some of the villages 1887, as we showed yesterday, the Govern- were severely attacked by plague this year, ment was proposing to enforce measures which seems to show that something was against overcrowding without providing for wrong with them. But we suspect that the housing of the ejected inhabitants. some of the officials have by this time re- We urged the necessity of the opening up signed themselves to the idea that the of new building sites, before turning out the plague is simply a visitation of God occupants of the too few existing houses. which it is little use to try to combat by We still are suffering from the lack of ordinary human means. On this ground building sites and it has all through been we can understand the protests in the left to private enterprise to provide access memorandum as to the sufficiency of the to more ground where it is needed. The medical and sanitary staffs of Hongkong. new tramway scheme is but a further The statements in the recent Petition about example of this. The Hon. F. H. MAY's the inadequacy of the medical equipment of case against the Press as anti-sanitarian | Kennedytown Hospital are misleading," breaks down altogether. It would doubtless we are told. These are the reasons. There be very convenient if he could make out is Tung Wa Hospital for Chinese only. that the Unofficial Members of the Legisla- There were never more than 22 cases under tive Council, backed by the Press, had been treatment at once at Kennedytown during | a constant obstruction in the progress of the late epidemic. The Medical Officer has the Government toward sanitary reform to assist him two European wardmasters, We are not called upon to defend the two trained European nurses, and one attitude of the Unofficial Members either in trained Chinese wardmaster. The Medical the past or the present; they represent little Officer never has resided at the Hospital, more than one section of the residents in but he is in telephonic communication. the Colony, and that is the section which The Acting Principal Civil Medical Officer would naturally be least inclined to welcome advised that ample trained assistance was changes involving so much expenditure of on the spot, without the constant attendance money. It seems to us that the Hon. of the Medical Officer at the Hospital. | 300.
(Daily Press, 2nd August.)
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At the end of their memorandum Messrs. STEWART LOCKHART, CHATHAM and May say: In conclusion we cannot refrain " from expressing our regret that the Peti- “tion as drafted is calculated to mislead. Any one who reads it, without local know- ledge and unacquainted with the real facts "of the case, could not but receive the errone- "ous impression that in Hongkong sanita- tion has been at a standstill for the last twenty years and that nothing has been "done or attempted to improve the sanitary condition of the Colony. That such an impression would be entirely erroneous is "shown by the facts we have adduced. It is unfortunate that the Petition as worded 'is not more worthy of the good cause- "the improved sanitation of Hongkong—it
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purports to serve. Every resident who "has the true welfare of the Colony at "heart must be in favour of that cause, "and it would indeed be a benighted Government that refused to do all in its power to advance it. But the sanitary improvement of the Colony in the future "is not likely to be secured by misre- presenting its sanitary history in the 'past." We fear that the talk of misrepre- sentation comes ill after what we have seen of the Government case against the Petition. Nor do we imagine that the petitioners will feel very chastened by the official rebuke. If after reaching the conclusion of the blue-book they will turn back 10 H.E. the Governor's letter of the 5th ult, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, much as they may admire the ingenuity with which the Gov- ernment has got up its case, they will still have the satisfaction of knowing that they have called attention to an exceedingly grave state of affairs, which Sir HENRY BLAKE acknowledges to exist equally with the humblest of the petitioners.
pedition consequent upon the late troubles in The German troops taking part in the ex- the North have lost 18 officers, 32 non-com- missioned officers and 250 men, or a total of
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