40
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
case of
three of the other Non-Chinese cases and 137 When the cleansing work is completed by the of the Chinese died. The number of vaccina. tenants the Inspector visits every floor, acoom- tions for the year was 7,450. Thirteen cases of panied by the foreman interpreter and some of diphtheria were notified throughout the year. the coolies with a bucket of pesterine (liquid Two of these were European cases, one a child, fuel) and some mops, and this pesterine is the other an adult. Nine cases were Chinese, applied to the sides and corners of the floors, one Portuguese, and one Filipino. All the and to the skirtings and round the partitions of cases of diphtheria, with the exception of one, the cubicles, and to the corners of the stairs, by occurred during the last three months of the means of the mops, under the personal supervi- year. All the Chinese cases died, and also the sion of the Inspector. At this visit when the Portuguese child. Thirteen cases of puerperal floors are clear of furniture, etc., the Inspector fever were certified throughout the year,
makes special note of the condition of the Опе was a Japanese case, and the re- ground surfaces, the absence of gratings to mainder Chinese. Eight of the Chinese drain-inlets and ventilators, and the presence of cases died. The scheme inaugurated in rat runs, and all these matters are dealt with by 1905 for supplying trained Chinese midwives legal notice at once. In Districts 4, 5, and 6 to attend the poor in their own bouses has crude phenol is used instead of pesterine, proved most successful, largely owing to the for purposes of comparison, in accordance supervision exercised over these women by Dr. with the wishes of the Board on this subject. Alice Sibree, who is engaged in medical mis- The tenants are invited, in the attached notice, sionary work in the Colony. Two of these to allow their bedding and spare clothing to be midwives were employed at the beginning of the steamed, in order to destroy fleas and other year, and in August the number was increased
vermin and their ova, and compensation is offered to four. They have attended 188 confinements for all articles damaged. Should a during the year, and exercise a general super-plague occur in a house, the Kaifong of the vision over the infanis, during the first year of district is informed, and the floor on which the life, advising the mothers as to the manner of casa has occurred is disinfected by the Plague feeding, etc. Seventeen of these infants have staff. the walls being sprayed with corrosive been taken out of the Colony-thirteen to Can- sublimate, and the floor and the bed-boards washed with Jeyes' fluid or cyllin (half a pint to the gallon); crude carbolic acid is poured into the rat-rons, which are then filled up with cement; and the clothing and bedding is sent to the Disinfecting Station to be steamed. The remaining doors of the infected house are cleansed by the tenants in the same manner as in the house-to-house cleansing. Should there be any ceilings or stair linings in the infected house these are removed and compensation is paid for them, if the case has been duly reported, while illegalities are dealt with by notice. The compensation is, in the case of Chinese, assessed separately by the Kaifong of the districts and by the Plague Inspector, and their assessments are dealt with by a Committee of the Sanitary Board. The Kaifong are appointed by the Tung Wah Hospital for the City of Victoria. and in the Kowloon by the inhabitants of Kowloon Point, Yaumati, and Hungbom respectively.
ton and four to Macao-and some of these are known to be alive and well, while of the remainder six only are dead-one a child that was practically still born, one a child with hare-lip and cleft palate, that died at the third month, two prematur ly born children that died during the first week, and two others one of whom died on the second day, the mother being ill with fever. These midwives consult Dr. Sibres in all complications, and she was called to 20 of the above cases, All the mothers recovered from their confinements. There was an unfortunate recurrence of plague during the year 1906, the total number of cases recorded being 893. Five of these cases occurred in Europeans, while 9 were Indians 3 Portuguese, 2 Japanese and one each Parsee, Malay,| Filipino and Eurasian, leaving 870 Chinese cases. The death-rate among the Europeans was 40 per cent., while among the Chinese it was 96.8 per cent,
The following number of interments in the various cemeteries of the Colony have been, recorded during the year :-
Non-Chinese Cemeteries-Colonial Cemetery 124; Roman Catholic Cemetery, 1,355 Mahommedan Cemetery, 59; Jewish Cemetery, t; Parses Cemetery. 4 and Sikh Cemetery 10; total, 1,554. Chinese Cemeteries, 5230.,
PLAGUE MEASURES.
There are at present four Plague Inspectors for the City of Victoria, and one for Kow- loon-Inspector Fincher being in charge of Health Districts 1, 2 and 3, and the Peak, Inspector S. M. Gidley in charge (acting) of Districts 4, 5 and 6, Inspector Knight in charge of Districts 7 and 8, Inspector Allen in charge of Districts 9 and 10, and Inspector Mackenzie in charge of Kowloon.
There are eleven coloured foremen interpre- ters, one for each district of the City of Victoria and one for Kowloon, who supervise the work of the rat-catchers, assist in the house-to-house cleausing, and act as interpreters to the inspectors where necessary. There are five gangs in the City of Victoria each con- sisting of one Chinese foreman, one artisan and seven coolies. Inspectors Fincher and Gidley hare each one and a half gangs, and the other two plague inspectors have a gang each, while Kowloon also has a gang consisting of a Chinese foreman, two artisans and ten coolies..
During non-epidemic periods the whole of this staff is engaged in house-to-house cleansing work, about ten houses or thirty floors a day are dealt with, and each tenant receives three days' notice, in English and Chinese, requiring him to thoroughly cleanse his premises. On the day fixed the gang attends in the street opposite the houses named, and supplies hot water and soap solution to the tenants, and oleans out all empty floors, basements, eto., the tenants themselves cleansing out their own premises without assis- tance from us, The refuse turned out during this cleansing is removed by the gang to the nearest dust-boat. The soap solution is also used by the tenants for washing their bed- boards, etc., in the street or on the verandah.
{
(July 22, 1907, ment Civil and Tang Wah Hospitals. The tota number of plague cases notified amounted to 891, of which 806 proved fatal, i.e. 85-9 per cent. 49 of these cases were treated in Kennedy Town Hospital and 43 died, i.e., 87-7 per cent. In the Tang Wah Plague Branch Hospital 136 cases were admitted and 124 died, i.e., 91 per cent. It is probable that the true mortality is not so high" as these figure would seem to prove, because it is likely that many mild cases at the beginning and end of the epilemic recover without treatment and are never notified. The majority of the cases admitted to Hospital are in an advanced stage of the disease and are practically hopeless."
REPORT OF THE COLONIAL ·
VETERINARY SURGEON.
This report, which appears in the Gazette, states that there was an increase in the numbers of cattle and swine during 1905 and a decrease in the numbers of sheep and goats. The decrease in these animals seems to be due to the
importation of frozen matton from Australis. The demand for cattle from Manils has been brisk throughout the year and the high prices the Manila dealers offer secure for the Phil-
lipines the best of the cattle in the Hongkong
market. Greater numbers of cattle now show evidences of bandfeeding, a practice encouraged by the fact that exporters are willing to pay more per pound for such cattle. The total number of cattle admitted to the Kennedy Town Cattle Depot was 52,594, an increase on 1905 of 3,092, Out of these admissions 213 were rejected on arrival
as unfit for food. The
rejections in 1915 amounted to 672. At Hang Hom Depot 4,962 cattle were admitted against 5,046 in 1905. The rejections at Hung Hom
were 21.
The revenue at Kennedy Town was $78,565,50 an increase on the previous year of 86,120.15, and at Hung Hom $438,38; while the collection of fees at Shankiwan and Aberdeen, were leased
to a contractor as usual,
The total revenue derived from the Slaughter House and Depois was $93 718.88. This is an increase on last year's working of $15,618.55.
The total amount of animals slaughtered in in the Colony were:-
Sheep Cattle.
ny spare time at the disposal of the Plague Inspectors is occupied in paying special visits to houses in which cases of plague have occurred in the previous season, with a view to seeing Kennedy Town... 22,478 that they are free of rat runs and provided with
Hung Hom impervious ground surfaces,
Shaukiwan Aberdeen
The Chinese have established public dispen- saries and also district plague hospitals which in the City of Victoria are managed by a Com- mittee of which the Registrar-General and the two Chinese members of the Sanitary Board are members; in Kowloon, a purely local Committee manages the Dispensary and the Hospital. These institutions are supported by voluntary contributions, and each is in charge of a Licen- tiate of the Hongkong College of Medicine for Chinese, who sees out-patients at the Dispensary, performs vaccinations, visits patients in their Own homes, and treats the patients in the District Hospital. Cases of infections disease are notified by these doctors to the nearest District Sanitary Office, and in the case of plague, the patients may be treated in the District Hospit 1.
HONGKONG HOSPITAL.
The report of the Superintendent of the Government Civil Hospital, published in the Gazette, states that during 1906 the number of admissions was 2745 as against 2704 in the previ- ous year. The number of free cases was in excess of 19-5, while there was a marked falling off in the number of paying patients. There were 215 operations performed during the year.
The medical officer in charge of the Victoria Hospital for women and children reports that during 19-6 the admissions numbered 278 as against 12 in 1905.
During the year there were 75 admissions to Kennedy Town Hospital and 67 to the Hospital Halk "Hygeia." The 18 case of malignant malaria, shown in Table I, were part of a batch of 60 coolies working on the Canton-Kowloon Railway, who were sent in on short notice and could not be accommodated elsewhere. They were transferred after two days to the Govern.
Tolal...
4,663
and Goats.
15,275 1,128
Swine.
163.974
28,594
4,574
3,471
200,586
27,141
16,403
Grand total of all animals...244,130
TYPHOON RELIEF FUND.
The following despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies with regard to the report of the typhoon relief fund committee, was laid before the Legislative Council yester. day:
Downing Street,
6th June, 1907. Sir, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Sir M. Nathan's despatch o. 93 of the 18th of April, forwarding a copy of the report of the Committee appointed to collect funds and to deal with cases of distress caused by the typhoon of the 18th of September 1st.
2. The inhabitants of Hongkong are entitled to the greatest credit for the energetic measures which they took to repair the disaster and for the liberality with which they subscribed to the relief fund. I note with great pleasure Sir M. Nathan's testimony to the admirable work per- formed by Sir Paul Cbater, Messrs. Hewett, Hunter, Brewin and Fung Ws Chun, and the other members of the Relief Committees and I should be glad if you would express to these gentlemen my appreciation of their services.
3. I cordially approve the proposal that the money which the Government had pledged itself to contribute to the relief fund should be ex- pended upon the prompt commencement of a new typhoon refage at Mong Kok Tsui.
I have, &c.,
ELGIN, The Offeer Administering the Government of
Hongkong.