:
32
Experiments were made with tar and asphalt surfacing on portions of the Kowloon platforms, and as these have proved successful so far, it is intended to asphalt the whole of the platforms and concourse area.
The rainfall for the year was above the average, a very large proportion occurring in the months of May and June; in fact 433 inches, out of a total for the year of 97 inches, fell in May; the heaviest fall per hour recorded being 3.25 inches. The railway however suffered very little damage, which is no small reward for previous expenditure in combating and repairing the rainstorm frequently experienced in this country.
'There were two or three occasions on which typhoon blows occurred but fortunately none were serious.
A halt station was opened at Ho Mun Tiu, mile 24, where the local morning and evening trains call for the convenience of a new community which has lately settled at this point, and a temporary platform built of old sleepers was provided. This is not an ideal site for a station and will probably not be required when the road trams serve the neighbourhood, as is anticipated will be the case in the near future.
The gross receipts for the year were $603,980.77 as against $520,176.10 for 1920, an increase of $83,804.67, and the balance after paying working expenses stands at $75,989.71.
The through and joint sectional passengers carried were as follows
1919. 1920. 1921.
Passenger booked by Stations
in British Territory to Stations in China
344,716 365,665 435,933
Passengers booked by Stations
354,899 373,776 462,379
in China to Stations British Territory
The Local Passengers carried were as follows:-
Mam line....
Fanling Branch
1919 1920. 1991. 345,314 382 206 429,133
48,017 47,
43,733
VI GOVERNMENT AND AIDED INSTITUTIONS.
(a.)-HOSPITALS,
Government Hospitals consist of the Civil Hospital, to which is attached an isolated Maternity Hospital, the Victoria Hospital
33 -
for Women and Children, and the Kennedy Town Infectious Dis- eases Hospital. There is an Observation Station capable of accom- modating 1,500 persons in the event of an outbreak of infections disease on board a ship arriving in the Harbour.
The Civil Hospital contains 170 beds in 21 wards. 4,815 in-patients and 27,322 out-patients were treated during 1921 as against 4,701 and 3,926 respectively in 1920. 399 cases of malarial fever were admitted as against 243 in 1920 and 218 in 1919. The total cases of malaria for all Government Hospitals and the Tung Wa Hospital shows an increase of 339 cases as compared with the year 1920. The Maternity Hospital contains 9 beds for Europeans and 8 for Asiatics. 810 confinements occurred during the year ne against 496 in 1920. The Victoria Hospital at the Peak contains 41 beds, and during 1920, 213 patients were under treatment there. At Kennedy Town Hospital, which contains 26 beds, 70 cases were treated in 1920, all being infectious.
(6) LUNATIC ASYLUM.
The Asylum is under the direction of the Superintendent of the Civil Hospital. European and Chinese patients are separated. the European portion containing 14 beds in separate wards and the Chinese portion 16 beds. 300 patients of all races were treated during 1921 and there were 8 deaths.
(c)-THE TUNG WA AND OTHER CHINESE HOSPITALS. The Tung Wa Hospital, opened in 1872, is mainly supported by the voluntary subscriptions of Chinese, but receives an annual grant of $8,000 from the Government. Only Chinese are treated in this institution. Various other services not appertaining to a hospital are performed by the institution, such as the free burial of the poor, the repatriation of destitutes, the maintenance of free vernacular schools, and the organisation of charitable relief in emergencies. Chinese as well as European methods of treatment are employed in accordance with the wishes expressed by the patients or their friends. Over half the number are now treated by Western methods. The hospital is managed by a committee of Chinese gentlemen annually elected, their appointment being sub- mitted to the Governor for confirmation. It is under the supervi- sion of a visiting physician, who is a member of the Medical Department, whilst two Chinese house surgeons, trained in Western medicine, are members of the hospital staff. There are 330 beds in the buildings, and 7,211 patients were accommodated during 1921.
The Tung Wa also maintain a branch hospital for small-pox cases (Chinese only) at Kennedy Town. It contains 60 beds and during 1921, 32 cases were treated.
The Alice Memorial and Affiliated Hospitals are managed and controlled by the missionaries resident in Hongkong, agents of the London Missionary Society, and consist of the Alice Memorial
18
86