h 34658
Alins 99
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APB 00
No. 76.
Government House.
Hong Kong, quan
March, 1900.
sir,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt
of your despatch No.300 of the 30th.of December last on the subject of the destruction of rats with a view to the preven- tion of the spread of Plague.
This is a matter which had not escaped my at- tention. In January of last year I appointed a Committee con- sisting of the Captain Superintendent of Police, the Medical Officer of Health, and the Government Analyst to devise means to destroy rats in Victoria and at Kowloon.
At the same time an official notice in the Chi- nese language was widely posted explaining that rats were one of the means of spreading Plague and urging the Chinese inha- bitants to co-operate in their destruction. A very large number of leaflets in the Chinese language and in the same sense were distributed from house to house throughout the city and else-
where,
The Committee appointed by me took action on two different lines. They endeavoured to poison rats by rent- ing a cellar in the city and placing in it a large quantity of The Right Honourable
an
JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN,
M.P.
800.
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