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We begun our labours in October 1844; we visited every street, lane, and gully in the City, and very often every house in them, and it took no little time working four hours every afternoon to finish our investigations.
As nearly every afternoon we had tiffin before they were half digested owing to the stenches, the Surveyor General broke down a month before we had finished. W. Alford and myself completed the inspections and in May our combined report was sent in.
Within a week of the time we finished, I was taken to hospital with Typhoid Fever; eighteen days insensible and delirious, till at last it was reported that I could not live through the night, and a grave was specially dug for me by my friend the Surveyor General's orders.
But thanks to good care and attendance, I came round, and on June 28th I was reported convalescent; I went for a sea trip to Australia and returned to my duty in perfect health on September 30th, 1845.
I gave in a General Report, carefully worded account of these inspections of the Chinese Brothels and the City, under the head of Sanitation. As what I said under this head was suppressed, it was not published in the Gazette, it did not appear in the Blue Book for the year 1845, and it was not sent home to the Secretary of State; so that what I went through and what I had done was not known except to this Government.
For the truth of what I have stated, I can refer to the present Acting Colonial Secretary, Captain Superintendent Deane, R.M.G., and I have copies of the reports that I made in my possession, living with Captain Deane at the time of making my first inspections in 1881.
Owing to the disagreement of the Military Authorities, the Surveyor General, Mr. Price, and myself with the then Governor, Sir John Pope Hennessy, I was...