"the surveyor-General, the question has arisen as to the number of prisoners to be accommo. dated. When last I addressed you upon the subject, I thought we should provide accomoda. tion for 750, and upon that subject the question has arisen as to how far it might not be desir- able to have the gaol on Stone Cutters' Island made to accommodate say 600 or 700, and a lock-up on this side of the harbour for 100 ur 200. That question is under the consideration of Her Majesty's Government. Now, having mentioned Mr. Chadwick, who I am happy to say is in the Colony, and is about to report to Her Majesty's Government upon some questions connected with the sanitation of the Colony, questions which have been brought to the notice of Her Majesty's Government, as appears in the instructions given to Mr. Chadwick, by represen tations-constant representations, as Lord Kim- berley says--by the officer in command of the troops as to the condition of the Chinese houses, and the system of drainage, which, he says, is injuriously affecting the health of the troops under his command. The sanitary state of this Colony is always a question of great in- terest to us; and their being 900 or 1,000 Euro- pean troops in the Colony, the medical supervi- sion gives us an opportunity as it were, by means of the mortality of the troops, of testing its sani- tary state. I do not by any means assert that the mortality and sickness among the troops shows the general mortality and sickness in the Colony, because it is generally greater among the troops, but comparing year by year the mor- tality among the troops, we arrive at some con- clusion as to the condition of the houses in the vicinity of the barracks. The complaints to which Lord Kimberley refers are made by the Officer Commanding the Troops in Hongkong in 1879, 1880, and 1881. I have before me a return of the mortality among the troops during those three years, and I find that the number of deaths amongst the white troops-that is amongst the men wo- men, and children of the European troops, amount- ed to 22 in 1879; in 1880 this had fallen to 20, and last year, 1881, it only amounted to 9, so that as far as these returns, which we have just received from the military authorities, indicate, there has been a steady decline in the mortality of the white troops in this Colony of late years. Now, taking a return of the same years, which has just reached me, of the whole population of the Colony, we find that taking the male population in 1879, the death rate among the Chinese amounted to 33 per thousand, in 1880 it had fallen to 29 per thousand, and in 1881 it had fallen to 24 per thousand. These figures are eminently satisfactory, as showing the general condition of the health of the Colony, and as showing what mistakes have been made by those who believe that owing to the increase of the Chinese population, or any other cause, the sanitary state of the Colony for the last three years has been getting worse, instead of steadily improving. Now, on this subject of the health of the troops, there is one topic which I have not referred to before, but which I must touch upon now, because I am instructed by the Secretary of state to prepare an Ordinance to deal with what is called the Contagious Diseases Ordin-
ance.
You will no doubt remember that in De- cember 1877, and in January 1878, 1 took the re- sponsibility of appointing a Commission to inquire into the operation of this Ordinance, and the Re- gistrar General's proceeding in connection with it. You will also remember that one result of the appointinent of that Commission, and the inquiry that began in 1878 was that statements were in- dustriously circulated throughout the Colony to the effect that certain measures which I adopted to put an end to abuses that I found in opera- tion under that Ordinance, would cause an in- crease of contagious diseases amongst the troops. Those who had not an opportunity of knowing the facts circulated these rumours throughout the Colony, and I believe even to this day it is gene- rally understood in some quarters that though it was admitted that the abuses which I put an end to were revolting abuses; though it was admitted that it was impossible any Government could sanction some of the abuses which were detected by the Commission, yet neverthe less puiting a stop to them, and especially of the abuses caused by the employment of paid
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informers, the stopping of these matters it was said undoubtedly caused an increase in the amount of disease amongst the troops. I need hardly say that the Ordinance was passed at the instance of the Office Com- manding the Troops here many years ago. It had been devised for the troops, and for what was called protecting the soldiers and sailors. Now, in looking to the result of changes I felt it my duty to make, I recently asked for a return from the Military Authorities showing the number of soldiers suffering from contagious discases during the four years past; that is during the time that the reforms which I felt it: necessary to introduce had been in operation. Here are the figures which have been furnished to the Colonial secretary by the Military Autho- rities on the 23rd of January last. In 1878 the number of soldiers suffering from those diseases amounted to 188, in 1879 to 182, in 1880 to 164, and in 1881 to 136. You therefore see that the abolition of abuses in the management of the Contagious Diseases Ordinance has had a similar effect to that which took place in the more im- portant one of our penal legislation. I will not dwell upon that subject further than to say that in the instructions given by Lord Kimberley to me, important changes are indicated in the exist- ing Ordinance; when that Ordinance has been prepared it will be my duty to submit the draft in the first instance to the Secretary of State, and when it has been sanctioned by Her Majesty's Government, it will he laid before you. I believe I used the words "revolting abuses" in reference to those which I put a stop to. They are in fact the words used by the Earl of Kimberley himself in referring to some abuses I found existing in Hongkong, There are, on the whole, gentle- inen, no reasons to be disappointed with the sanitary state of the Colony. The returns indicate a steady improvement in the public! health, and in the health of the troops; but: I am not satisfied with the health of the Colony nevertheless. I think that the town of Victoria might be made a model of sanitation, with its position on the slope of a hill, the possibility of obtaining an almost unlimited supply of water for drinking and washing pur- poses, and having here a native population who will readily carry out the Chinese custom by which the sewage and refuse is carried out of the town, and used for agricultural purposes. Having a population accustomed to that sensible practice, I have very little doubt this Colony can be made a model of sanitation. I observed the other day that Professor Huxley said that some Oriental nations that we had been in the habit of calling barbarous, were actually more civi- lised than ourselves in the mode in which they treat sewage, and he referred especially to the Chinese, and their mode of dealing with it. It is a subject in which we may have something to learn from the Chinese. In England people are now reconsidering the question of the under- ground drainage system to carry off excremetn- titious matter by water supply, and some eminent some of our best-sanitary authorities are in favour of what is called the Chinese process. There are, no doubt, in this Colony other things necessary for good sanitation. Eighteen months ago I called for information froin the survey Department as to the establish- ment of baths and wash-houses for the poor, and recently I have been again in communication with the leading Chinese inhabitants of the Colony on the subject, and the result is that is a system of private baths which now exists to some extent for Chinese, for which twenty cash, are paid--that system can be extended, and 1 believe the poor will be able before long to avail themselves of baths and wash-houses where the payment will be extremely moderate, that is, These begining at a scale of one or two cash. baths and wash-houses, with a moderate supply of warm water, can be built without much cost. You will require a certain number of them, and when the plans are completed I will have much pleasure in submitting them to you and asking for the moderate vote that their cost will entail. Now I have told you that the item from the sale of Crown lands, which reached in 1881 the sum of $205,680, I was not disposed to treat as one of actual revenue.
With respect to that item there has also been some expression of opinion in the Colony. I have scen
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