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in their
Government deliberately sketched out on the ion is. I have no desire to make this a Govern- 20th June. After sending to the Secretary of State the extract from my speech delivered at ment question, I think it is one of the most im- portant which has ever come before this Council, this table on the 12th June, I said, "The remedy and I feel sure my colleagues of the Govern- is, as your Lordship will see, a very drastic one. ment if they have strong opinions will stick to It may result in the destruction and re-building them. I am sure they realize the weight of re- of one-tenth part of Hongkong, responsibility which is involved It will certainly necessitate the extension in every direction of houses fitted for Chinese occupation on improved sanitary principles. It may do good and that money may be saved. will doubtless cause a general increase in rents. That, I say, is an invertebrate reason, and an increase in the cost of living, as well as a matter of pure speculation. I think such a general increase in the rate of wages. It will Commission as proposed is unnecessary, as it is also necessitate the increase of the storage liable to increase the delays which are sure to capacity of the Tytam Water Works so as to arise over this very big question. If the hon. secure an additional supply of about 80,000,000 member is fortunate enough to carry his motion, gallons of water." Then I went on to say, in he has my best wishes for its success, and I hope paragraph 31-In reply to my speech I may it will turn out better than he expects, and here mention that on behalf of the unofficial result in saving a large sum of money. I do members and the community at large, the senior not want to spend more than is necessary. But unofficial member, the Hon. C. P. Chater, pro- I think, in recording my vote against it, I shall mised that the Government should be loyally at least have acted logically and consistently, and supported in all its endeavours to cope with the in accordance with the weight of evidence placed unfortunate dilemmas in which the colony is before me. placed." This despatch I read to the hon. senior unofficial member before it was sent to the Sec- retary of State-I am not sure whether I read it to Mr. Keswick also-
Hon. J. J. KESWICK-You did not read it to me, Sir.
The ACTING ATTORNEY-GENERAL-Sir, I feel that it is my duty also to oppose this mo- tion. Much of what your Excellency has al- ready said has cut away what I intended to say to the Council, but I now oppose this motion mainly on the ground that the appointment of a Commission is unnecessary. In the first place the decision of the Government-although it is pretty certain what the decision of the Government is-is not final That decision, I may be making too much of this. for I do not such as it is, has been arrived at from two re- see how the hon. member proposes to get his ports, one of the Permanent Committee of the majority, unless many of the members at this Sanitary Board and one of the Housing Com- table are going to stultify themselves and con- mittee, both of which bodies have absolutely re- tract their own words; for my friend the hon. ported in favour of demolition. One report is member for the Colonial Secretariat, who also is based on the experience of those who devoted Registrar General and Protector of Chinese, re- such an enormous amount of time to the plague commended me on several occasions to accept and plague questions during the last four or the advice of the Permanent Committee and five months, and the other is based chiefly on the Housing Committee; the Colonial Treas- the medical evidence, all of which, urer and Dr. Ho Kai, one as chairman and have pointed out before in this Chamber, is the other as a member of the Housing Commit- unanimously in favour of the demolition tee, signed the unanimous report strongly recom- of these houses and their destruction by fire. mending the total destruction of Taipingshan So far as the Government is concerned none of preferably by fire;" the Director of Public those gentlemen who have reported on the de- Works had a representative on that Committee, struction of the houses, or who have given evid- and he is not likely to contradict his advice; Mr. ence in favour of that, have altered their opinions. Belilios at our last unofficial meeting told us he I cannot conceive that they could have altered was in favour of destruction by fire, and gave us their opinions. I have heard it said that they a thrilling account of some Indian city or village have, but I cannot conceive that they should have which was destroyed by fire, and in which no so changed without having informed the Govern- case of cholera had ever occurred since-
Hon. E. K. BELILIOS-No, it was Naples I referred to.
HIS EXCELLENCY-I do not know what the hon. member the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce has to say. He has just returned from the seat of war, and should know all about the danger of delay. As to the hon. Attor- ney-General, I think I can guess what his opin-
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that the medical evidence can be supplemented in any way, surely it is equally as open to the Government as to any Commission, and pro- bably such further evidence would be taken in a much shorter and less expensive way. As your Excellency has said, that seems rather an invertebrate policy. I am afraid that the appointment of a Commission would cause serious delay. It must take a great amount of time. To be thorough the commissioners must go over the whole of the medical evidence, and take the expert evidence of every architect and engi- neer of standing in the colony, and how long do you think that would take? I apprehend that it would take six months at least. If the survey of these houses, and examination, is to take four months or at the outside six months, I think it is fair to say that a Commission to do its work thoroughly will take at least that time, if not longer, and that if they wanted expert evidence the Commission would have to pay for it. I believe on one occasion, during the Fever Commission, a good deal of expert evidence was taken from the doctors-who are regarded as experts-and probably they made no charge for it. But business men, architects and engineers-I doubt whether they would be able or willing to give their time and attention to this without being paid I do not think it would do very much good because I think all the evidence that can be gained is within the grasp of the Government at the present time, and therefore, Sir, I beg to oppose this motion.
The COLONIAL TREASURER-Sir, I should like to say a few words upon this motion. Your Excellency and the learned Attorney-General have dealt with this question so very fully that there remains very little to say. The key note of the proposal seems to be that given by my hon. friend on my right (Mr. A McConnachie). It is a pity to destroy valuable property.' and, Sir, I have myself thought since the com- mencement of the plague, and more every day, that that would come into greater prominence by delay. The dangers of the plague will gradually disappear, will be lost to sight and memory, and the pity of destroying valuable pro- perty will occupy a bold on the colony. It ap- pears to my hon. friend on my right (Hon. A. McConnachie). He has given it as a reason why this Commission should be appointed. Another of his reasons is that he has personally made an inspection of the property, whereas he has reason to believe that the advisers of the Government have gone on hearsay.
The COLONIAL TREASURER continued... I should only like to remark that the Housing Committee consisted of members who have been acquainted with Taipingshan for many years, of architects who know the pro- perty and have had to deal with it for a long time, and of others, among whom was my friend on my left (Hon. Ho Kai) who is as capable of...
Hon. A. MCCONACHIE-Not entirely.
The COLONIAL TREASURER-No, but to a great extent. ...