2.
Regarding the complaint re the S.S. "Coromandel".
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This vessel arrived in Hong-Kong after the inspection of arrivals from Singapore during the cholera Epidemic had been cancelled by His Excellency the Governor. On the morning of this steamer's arrival, I was attending to my duties in other parts of the Harbour from 7:15 A.M., and it was only when I reached the West End on my morning rounds that I discovered the S.S. "Coromandel" was in quarantine, as I expected the steamer alongside the wharf as usual. I observed this vessel's signal flying shortly after 6 A.M. from the Kowloon Signal Station, when standing on my verandah, and afterwards when I was afloat, after 7 A.M., but as there was no special signal to indicate that there was sickness on board, nor any notice sent to me, as is usually done by the different companies, I went about my usual duties, awaiting the arrival of the vessel at the Godown Company's Wharf.
The case of Lapotago Contagiosa, referred to by Mr. Ritchie as a form of ringworm, was, by me, considered suspicious, as the passenger came from Bombay, where smallpox was raging at that time. In any case, this disease is contagious. In all suspicious cases, it has always been my rule in this port to send cases I suspect to the Government Civil Hospital for observation or confirmation of my diagnosis, keeping the vessel in quarantine until I heard finally from the Principal Medical Officer.
8.
As to my insisting on vaccinating the passengers, this I emphatically deny. I merely requested any passengers who had not been vaccinated for the past seven years to be vaccinated if they wanted to land, as there was an Epidemic of smallpox in this Colony at the time of their arrival here.