It ends in
Duplicate
To
His Excellency
ENCLOSURE 6.
441
Sir Henry A. Blake, G.C.M.G.,
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony of Hong Kong and its
Dependencies and Vice-Admiral of the same.
Respectfully Sheweth:
The humble Petition of the undersigned
Chinese Merchants and residents of Hong
Kong on behalf of themselves and their
fellow countrymen residing in this Colony.
1.
That up to and until the month of July 1900, certain regulations were made and
enforced by the Sanitary Board of this Colony, subject to which persons suffering from
bubonic plague and the bodies of those who died thereof were permitted to leave the colony
for the neighbouring Province of Kwang Tung.
2.
That on or about the 28th of June 1900, the above-mentioned regulations were temporarily suspended at a meeting of the Committee of the Sanitary Board, at which it was decided that, as the aforesaid regulations were a violation of Chapter I of the Venice
Convention of 1897 which had recently been adopted by the Government of this Colony on the
recommendation of the Board, they, the aforesaid regulations, could be no longer considered
to be in force.
3.
That on or about the 8th of November 1900, it was resolved at a meeting of the Sanitary Board that the conditions subject to which persons suffering from bubonic plague
were permitted to leave the Colony be thereby revoked.
4.
That during the present epidemic of bubonic plague, the revocation of the aforesaid regulations has occasioned great and increasing alarm and suffering to the Chinese, and it threatens to cause irreparable injuries to the business and interest of your Petitioners
and the whole of the Chinese Community.
5.
That a large number of Chinese are daily leaving the Colony for the Mainland, and if no steps be taken to allay the feeling of excessive terror, the exodus will soon