Attention be paid to the sanitary point of view of the crew.
4. If the land in question were used for cultivation, then, from its more elevated position and proximity to the Barracks, I should apprehend great risk of the water supply being polluted by sewage; even should the greatest care be taken with drainage - considering the Chinese system of cultivation and the liberal use they make of human ordure and urine, and although the sewage might be conveyed for a certain distance in covered channels, yet it would no doubt affect the soil in the vicinity, and pollute the larger drains at a lower level and in more close proximity to the Barracks and public thoroughfare.
5.
475
Again, the gaseous emanations from soil so cultivated would unquestionably influence the quality of the water at some distance, through contact and absorption; another danger would present itself from disturbance of the earth, which at all times in Hong Kong ought to be guarded against, and which is usually acknowledged as a fruitful source of disease.
6. Further, the occupation of the Barracks might be rendered intolerable from foul gases emanating from land so treated and subjected to such a foul system of cultivation.
7.
Under this head, the nature of the buildings would have to be considered, whether for Europeans or natives; the...