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Enclosure C.
Measures to give effect to Mr. Chadwick's Recommendations of 1882.
LEGISLATION.
The Public Health Ordinance, 1887.
Under date of the 22nd December, 1886, the then Sanitary Board, which consisted of Mr. J. M. Price, Surveyor General, Dr. Ayres, Colonial Surgeon, Mr. Stewart Lockhart, Registrar General, Major T. C. Dempster, Acting Captain Superintendent of Police, Dr. Manson, Mr. A. P. McEwen, Mr. N. J. Ede, and Dr. Ho Kai, forwarded to Government the draft of a proposed Public Health Ordinance with Bye-laws to be made thereunder, accompanied by a memorandum by Dr. Ho Kai, protesting against the measure.
This memorandum opens with the following words:- "By this Ordinance and the Bye-laws made thereunder, landed property in this Colony to the extent of millions of dollars will be sacrificed, vested interests greatly interfered with, and public confidence shaken to its foundations. This Ordinance, together with its Bye-laws, contains nearly all the important provisions of a Building Ordinance sought to be introduced last year into the Legislative Council, and which, as soon as it was known, created quite a sensation in this Colony."
He went on to write:- "From an economical point of view, the idea of sacrificing the millions of square feet at an average price of $5 or $7 per square foot is even more ridiculous. What is this enforced sacrifice for? Simply for the sake of a theory that the Chinese public require all such sanitary improvements to promote their health and welfare. But I challenge the soundness of that theory. I say the Chinese in general do not require this sacrifice or even desire it."
It is not for the welfare of the poor to have the valuable space occupied by their small rooms narrowed in order to provide for a model privy, a superb kitchen, and sumptuous back-yard of 10 feet wide, while at the same time the wicked landlords continue to charge the same rent or even a higher one for improvements and increase in capital necessary to effect such improvements.
Just fancy the position of the poor tenant if this Bill becomes law. He will be forced to pay an enormous rent for less space than before, plus all sorts of sanitary improvements which, however good in themselves from a European standpoint, they do not care for, and which they think, at least their constitutions do not require. They may say that they are habituated to such cities like Canton, Kowloon City, &c.; compared to which Hongkong, as it now stands, is a paradise, a model of cleanliness, a perfect sanitarium, and that if more improvements are required, let those who advocate them pay for them, and not they."
The Bill, as drafted by the Sanitary Board, was remodelled by embodying in it the principal provisions of the more important Bye-laws proposed to be made under it, and on the 6th of May, 1887, the Acting Attorney General moved the first reading of it in the Legislative Council, quoting in support of the Bill the report of Mr. Chadwick referred to by the Chamber of Commerce, and urging Mr. Chadwick's remarks as a justification for a drastic Sanitary measure. Among the most important provisions of the Bill were the following:-
Open Spaces around Dwellings.
(a.) That in any new building, a habitation intended for human habitation should not be allowed to shut on the hillside, but should have a space of 4 feet clear between it and the hillside.
(b.) That, subject to an appeal to the Governor in Council, in any new domestic building, a clear space forming a back-yard of at least 10 feet in width along the entire back of such building, and kept at all times open to the sky, should be provided.
Overcrowding.
(c.) That every domestic building or portion thereof found to be inhabited in excess of a proportion of one adult to every 300 cubic feet of clear internal space should be considered to be in an overcrowded condition.
It was mentioned by the mover of the Bill that this latter provision was calculated to displace 20,000 of the population.
C. S. O. HAG
"China Mail" 12th May, 1887.
"Supplement Daily Press" of 7th July, 1887.
Vide section 59 of Ordinance 24 of 1887.
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It is no exaggeration to say that the Bill excited, as was foreshadowed by Dr. Ho Kai's memorandum, a storm of opposition.
The first reading was followed by a series of leading articles in the "Daily Press" against the Bill.
On the 11th of May, a deputation of Chinese waited on the Acting Governor and addressed His Excellency on the subject of the Bill.
They pointed out that the provision of 10 feet backyards, kitchens, and privies would cost from 10 to 20 million dollars. That the poorer classes would suffer by the curtailment of accommodation; that privies for common use were against Chinese social habits; and that no compensation was offered.
On the 23rd of June, a memorial praying for the postponement of the consideration of the measure, and signed by all the Unofficial Members, the representatives of all the leading European or American Firms in the Colony, and by a very large number of Chinese, was presented in the Council Chamber to His Excellency Major-General Cameron, the Acting Governor.
The memorial contained a statement that the signatories "had great doubts as to the foundation for the deplorable picture drawn of the Sanitary Condition and prospects of Hongkong, based upon statements made 13 years ago" (referring to Dr. Ayres' report of 1874), and the then Senior Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council (Honourable P. Ryrie) said that while the memorialists had no objection to such Sanitary measures as were necessary to preserve the health of those who occupied tenements in the Colony, they objected to several clauses of the Bill which interfered with their property. He indicated specially the clause requiring 10 feet back-yards.
The late Mr. Granville Sharp, in the course of some remarks adverse to the Bill, stated that the memorial had been signed "by the whole community."
On the 3rd of July, a large meeting of Chinese was held at the Tang Wa Hospital against the Bill.
The Bill was read a second time on the 21st of July, and on the 20th September, the Honourable A. P. McEwen (a member of the Sanitary Board who had therefore assisted in drafting the original Bill) and the representative on the Council of the Chamber of Commerce, moved that instead of 300 cubic feet of air-space being provided for each adult in a domestic building, only 200 feet be provided.
After much discussion, the Honourable J. Bell-Irving moved, by way of a compromise, and the Honourable C. P. Chuter seconded, that 250 feet only be provided.
The amendment was supported by all the Unofficial Members but lost.
On the 23rd of September, the Bill was read a third time against a unanimous Unofficial vote and passed against a similar vote.
The Bill, which from first to last was strenuously opposed both in and out of Council, underwent numerous modifications during its passage through the Council, with the following effect on the provisions (a.) and (b.) mentioned above. (a.) was applied only to buildings (intended for human habitation) erected on land obtained from the Crown after the passing of the Ordinance.
In cases of land obtained from the Crown before the passing of the Ordinance, it was applied with a number of exemptions which rendered the provision practically nugatory, as far as the object it was originally intended to effect was concerned. (b.) was relegated to the proposed new Building Ordinance, in which it never found a place, and this all-important provision was therefore lost. (c) was forced through the Council by the official vote, in the teeth of the strongest opposition on the part of all the Unofficial Members, including the representative of the Chamber of Commerce, which body now complains that Government has not exacted an allowance of 600 cubic feet, or three times what its representative and the other Unofficial Members considered sufficient.
In the "Daily Press" (which had strongly opposed the Bill all through its passage) of the 26th September, 1887, we find the following remarks in a leading article:-
"One of the chief grievances of residents in this Colony, Chinese and Europeans alike, is the great scarcity of house accommodation and the consequent high rents.
This grievous state of things the Government proposes to make worse and worse by enforcing laws against overcrowding. Every person is to have 300 cubic feet of space to sleep in, although even...