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a good deal of reason - to permit vessels to proceed to their
wharves and buoys from infected ports, provided that on arrival in Hong Kong passengers and/or crew were free from any
infectious disease. Vessels, however, with any infectious
case on board, had to proceed to the quarantine anchorage. This
system, although admittedly incomplete, worked quite well; but
for some reason, which I have never been able to fathom, the
Hong Kong Government suddenly decided that it was desirable
to tighten up on quarantine. They therefore increased their
medical staff and whenever a port was declared infected issued instructions to all vessels arriving therefrom, that no passenger
or cargo could be landed until medical examination had taken
place. In the early stages they allowed vessels of the "Empress
and "President" classes to proceed alongside their wharves,
where medical examination took place. Vessels of lesser tonnagı
however, were made to proceed to the quarantine anchorage,
and, in the case of Holts' "Sarpedon" class, we took great
exception and pointed out that they had no business to
discriminate against any passenger ship, if medical examination
were necessary, we were as much entitled to have it at our wharves and buoys as vessels of the "President" and/or "Express" class. On this they had eventually to give way.
Thousands
of Chinese arrive daily from Canton, the Delta and West River
parts without any examination whatsoever. It is quite safe to
say that whatever infectious disease is imported into the
Colony, nine-tenths arrive from these sources, and it is
obviously ridiculous to spend the amount of money they are at
present squandering in the examination of vessels arriving free
Shanghai and other China ports, more particularly in the case of
passenger ships, where qualified doctors are carried. If a
complete system of medical examination could be instituted,