Service to relieve Dr. Thomson from his duties as Medical Officer of the Gaol so that his entire time should be devoted to plague work.
469
10. On the 20th May I authorized the employment of a launch and two junks, in which patients could be taken to the Kennedy Hospital from the Eastern district, or dead bodies sent for burial that they might not be carried through the streets. At the same time additional accommodation in the shape of godowns and matsheds was provided at Kennedy Town and two additional nurses were engaged.
11. Feeling that if the disease is propagated by vermin the Chinese coolies ought to have an opportunity of washing, I directed the Public Works Department to erect a number of matsheds with arrangements for hot water. It was generally assumed that the Chinese coolie would not avail himself of the means of cleanliness, but the thousands who have since flocked to these bath houses have shown that they are ready to avail themselves of any opportunity for securing personal cleanliness and the Sanitary Board has requested that more matsheds may be erected, and provision made for permanent baths. I have suggested that the working...