June 1, 1907.)
痛感
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"which he should be attached and on which "he should occupy a seat. He abould have 'no vote, his duties on the Board being 'purely of an advisory nature, it being undesirable that he should enter into "discussion on points on which he should "be called upon to advise, his duties to be of a similar nature to those laid down by the B adford Corporation and the City of Ludo ."
£
23. The Bill became law and to mark their disa proval of the Medical Officer of Health being added to the Board all the unofficial members of the Board except one resigned.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
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leave the Colony for a time with regret. The only thing do not regret leaving is the Sani ary Board as a Body, and I hope before "I return there will be some improvement as to "the individual members."
27. Mr. W. Danby wrote to the Press calling attention to the crusade being waged gainst illegal oklofts, etc., and formally alleging corruption in the Sanitary Administra-
tion.
28. The Daily Press said the Government would have to sift the matter to the bottom either by a Commission or otherwise.
29. A revolution of the Sanitary Board was 24. In the opening speech of the Session of passed that the Colonial Secretary be requested the Legislative Council the Governor sid he to furnish the Boird with the opinion of the regretted to state there had een some mis-legal advisers of the Crown as to whether any understanding between the Government and legal steps can be taken with a view to obtain- the unofficial members of the Sanitary Board in ing redress for the apparent misrepresentation regard to the appointment of the Medical Officer made against the Board and its officers in of H-alth.
* * Some opposition Mr. Danby's letter. had been offered to his views in certain quarters and it is not improbable that a compromise will eventually be suggested by the Secretary of State but 8.8 yet no decision had been arrived at. In this uncertain Etate of affairs
Was unwilling to assign any definite position to the newly appointed Medical ficer of Health as the Su ordinate of a Body which at any time might cease to ex st.
25. In the Legislative Council on the 14th December, 1895, the Honourable Mr. T. H. Whitehead complained of the action of the Government in regard to the Sanitary Board, and of the protracted delay on the part of the Governm at in reconstruc ing the Beard on a proper basis. He said His Excellency the Governor in his openi g address to the Council on 28th November, 1894, then asid :-"That a Sanitary Board, meeting once a fortnight, could proper control and direct such a staff I do not believe, and that four or five ind-pendent gentlemen could be found who have time and inclination to devote several hours daily to such a task is beyond the bounds of possibility. I hope shortly to be in a position to inform you definitely what steps it has been decided to take to placo the Sanitary Board on a new basis." A year later at the opening of the ession, His Excellency made an explanation and stated, "Some opposition has been offered to my views in certain quarters and it is not improbable that a compromise will eventually be suggested by the Secretary of State, but as yet no decision has been arrived at. There are those who have pretended to see in the action of the Government an attempt to desi a death blow to the Sanitary Board. I disclaim any such motive; and even had such been my object I should at least have adopted measures better
3. At a meeting of the Sanitary Board the President. Honourable Mr. F. A. Cooper, Director of Public Works, miunted a8 follows:-
C.
"I hope that a full and complete enquiry will "be made isto Mr. Dauby's allegations against the Sanitary Board and its officers, by apparently the o ly means now available, viz, a Royal Commission."
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calculated to effect it-measures which would bave left no doubt whatever as to my intentions." Sanitary method in Shangha and Singapore under the management of a Munici al Council have so far gven satisfactory results. while our system is continually and adversely cri- ticised and not without good reason, as the most obnoxious and the most poisonous cdours are to be met with in every street of the town. The accumulations of filth discovered in the native part of the city last year were permitted by official neglect." The blame cannot be attri buted to the Sanitary Board, which never had power to carry out necessary work. Quite recently the Honourable the Colonial Secretary spoke at B public meeting and bora testimony to the quality of Hongkong residents. He said "So far as the public spirit is concerned I bave never known any object worthy of su port brought forward which has not received support in every way from the inhabitants of Hongkong. ***** I have never come across such a well informed com. munity; it has been acknowledged as a most enlightened community, and such a standard of intelligence could not have been maintained except by reading.' With the Honourable member I can cordially agree in this instance and I believe that we have in our midst men eminenil, well qualified to render good service on a properly constituted Sanitary Board.
26. The following is an extract from the Colonial Surgeon's Report for 1894, concerning the Sanitary Board :-
31. An action was brought by Yeung Shiu Kam against the Sanitary Boat and Police Constable Kae 2.3 8 test case to try the right of the Sanitary Board to enter premises and pul down cocklofts without getting a magistrate's order, which resulted in favour of the plaintiff.
for
32 Another action was brought by Wong Li Yurn against the Sanitary Board wrongful acts, and he was awarded $500 damages.
33. "Apart however from any question of the reorganisati n of the Board or the honesty of the officers, que lesson clearly appears from the cases that have recently been tried, namely, that should it unfortunately become necessary at any future time to undertake a general clean- sing of the town owing to the outbreak of filth dise ses, a much closer supervision should be exercised over the operations of the Whitewash Brigade" by responsible officers than has hitherto been the case. This year Dr. Clark was in charge of the work but he could not possibly exercise personal supervision over the whole of the details, competent lieutenants are required. It is not right that Chinese house. holders should be placed at the mercy of a constable or other subordinate officer whose excessive zeal may lead to such occurren es as gave rise to the case tried on Saturday, even if they remain proof against the temptations to act corruptly that must inevitably be held out to them.'
"As a compulsory member of the Board words are insufficient to express my disgust "at, in any way being a part of it **** I
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367
public in order that they might submit the opinion of the community on the mat er to is Excellency the Governor. Yesterday and to day were accordingly fixed as the days on which the ballot should tiks place. The voting took place at the City Hall. Two ballot boxes were place in the Chamber of Commerce room. one libelled "Unofficial majority
"' and the other "Official majority. " To each voter
I
B emill ticket was given, and his name entered in register. With this ticket the voter re'ired behind( a screen and dropped the ticket into the box representing the views be held. The franchise W88 extended to all male British subj ots over the age of twenty-ons resident in the Col uy, those in the service of the Imp rial and Colonial Gor rument excepted. Та Committee who organised the ballot are as follows:-itonourable C. P. Chater, Honourable T. H. Whitehead, Messrs N. J. Ede, T. Jackson, A. McConachie, and J. J. Francis Honourable aptain W. C.. H. Hastings and Mr. A. Coxon acted as scrutineers of the ballot. Most of these gentle- men were present during the progress of the voting. The voting took place during the hours of 4.30 and 7.30 p.m. Arrangem nts were made so that the employees of the Dock Com- pany at the various docks should attend the pulling place in r lays, and we understand a similar arrangement was carried out with regard to thos employed at the Taikoo Sugar Works and Messrs. Jardine, Matheson and Company's Sugar Refineries. About an hour after the bal lot was opened to-day nearly 3.0 residents in all had recorded their votes.'
34. On May 1896, His Excellency the Go- vernor addressed a communication to the Chamber of Commerce asking whether they adhered to the views of Mr. J. J. Keswick, when be was Chairman of that Chamber, in favour of an official majority in the Sanitary Board or of the more recent views of the! Honourable Mr. T. H. Whitehead, their R presentative in the Council in favour of an unofficial majority.
35. The Chamber decided to take the opinion of the community on the subject which they did with the following result:-
331 31
For the Unofficial Majority, For the Official Majority, The following is an account of the taking of the Plebiscite :-
THE SANITARY BOARD,
80
Result of Plebiscite. For a considerable time the subject of whether there should be an unofficial or official majority in the Sanitary Board has been a vexed question amongst those in the Colony who take an interest in its Govern ment. In consequence of a communication from the Governor to the Chamber of Commerce asking whether the Chamber ad. hered to Mr. J. J. Keswick's views in favour of an official majority, as expressed by him while Chairman of the Chamber, or of the more recent views expressed by Mr. White- head, the Chamber's representative in the Legislative Council, wbose views diametrically opposed to those of Mr. Keswick, that body decided to refer the matter to the
wers
"The public ballot held for ascertaining whether the public were in favour or ag Just the consti ution of the Sanitary Board with an official majority was concluded o Saturday and resulted in an overwhelming majority for an unofficial majority, the small number of 31 in favour of an unofficial myjority. The num- voted for an official majority, while 331 voted
ber of voters the list was 364, but two of that number had evidently not voted, as only 362 tickets were found in the boxes."
36. In reply to a question in the Legislative Council on 8th July, 1896. the Colonial S-cretary aaid "* That the construction of the Sanitary Board had been referred to the Secretary of State and that he has also been informed of the result of the Ballot."
Board Ordinance of 1896" it was proposed to 37. By Draft Bill entitled "The Sanitary
reduce the official members of the Board from 4 to 3 aud the unofficials to not more than 2.
38. Apparently the Bill was withdrawa and notwithstanding that the Draft had been ap- proved by the S-cretary of State after receiving the plebiscita he did not approve of its becoming law although his decision on that point was never made public.
39. The next election for members of the
Board took place on 19th December, 1899, and the Government nominated 4 members and the Medical Officer of Health in addition to the 2 members el-cled by the Ratepayers.
40 In 1901 there was friction between the Medical Officer of Health and the Secretary of the Sanitary Board, and Dr. Clark claimed to be Heal of the Department and able to directo
the Secretary. The President (Dr. Atkinso)
in a minuts to the Government stated that he agreed to the Medical Officer of Health direc- ting the Secretary but he added he (Atkinson) was Head of the Department, The Government in reply stated the Bord was the Head.
41. In 1901 an Ordinance was passed consoli- dating the laws relating to Public Health, and enacted that the constitution of the Board should be as above, 6 unofficial and 4 official members
and the Medical Officer of Health.
Was
42. In August, 1991, Dr. Atkinson appointed President of the Board and imme- diately recommended to the Governor that the Sanitary Board be made a Government Depart- ment.
43. The constitution of the Sanitary Board thereby remained unchanged until the passing of the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance 1 of 19 3.
To fully understand the reasons for this new Ordinance its necessary to trace its History.
44. In 1901 a series of articles appeared in the public press written under the nom de plume of Scrutator, severely criticising the