Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
REPORTS EXHIBITING THE PAST AND PRESENT
TABLE No. 6-Showing the Average Strength of Police in 1847, 1848, and 1849, and the Proportion of Deaths to Strength.
Average Strength Average Deaths per annum Proportion of Deaths to Strength 178 14.66 7.90 per Cent.The great mortality of 1848, occasioned by the shipwreck of 21 policemen in the typhoon has very much enlarged the general average for the three years.
TABLE No. 7.-Showing the Total Number of Prisoners in the Victoria Gaol during the Year 1849, the Number of Sick and Deaths, and the proportion of Sick and Mortality to Strength.
Prisoners in Gaol during Year Cases of Sickness Deaths Proportion of Sick to Strength Proportion of Deaths to Strength 1,252 134 6 10.70 per Cent. 0.48 per Cent.The statistics of the gaol will always afford a striking difference between the strength and the deaths. The numbers in the first column show the gross number of persons in gaol in the year. They include those who are remanded as well as those who are committed for trial and convicted. A remand very often entails an imprisonment of only 12 or 24 hours.
The committals and convictions during the last year, were 1,084; taking this number as the basis of the annual population of the prison, the result will be as follows :-
Strength Proportion of sickness to strength Proportion of deaths 1,084 12.30 per cent. 0.55There can exist no doubt that the prisoners in Victoria Gaol are remarkably exempt from disease. For many years hospital gangrene was a troublesome and fatal disorder in the prison. Two prisoners died from this cause in the early part of the year, but inasmuch as I regard them to be cases appertaining to the previous year, I may safely say, that during the last year not a single case has occurred, and I attribute its eradication to the sanitary precautions which have been taken, with a special view to its prevention.
Table No. 8.—Showing the Number and Proportion of Cases of Sickness and Deaths to all those Employed by Government, including Prisoners, in 1849.
Total Number of Persons Total Number of Cases of Sickness Total Number of Deaths Proportion of Deaths to Strength Civil officers of Government: Police, &c. 221 18 8.14 per Cent. Prisoners 1,252 134 6 0.48 per Cent. Total 1,473 323 15 1.02 per Cent.TABLE NO. 9.-Showing the comparative Sickness and Mortality for the last Five Years amongst Persons employed by Government, including Prisoners in Gaol.
Year Number of Persons Employed Number of Cases of Sickness Number of Deaths Proportion of Sickness to Strength Proportion of Deaths to Strength 1845 775 501 27 64.64 per Cent. 3.48 per Cent. 1846 655 ... 28 77.33 per Cent. 3.3 per Cent. 1847 833 280 20 33.61 per Cent. 2.4 per Cent. 1848 1,333 418 46 31.35 per Cent. 3.4 per Cent. 1849 1,473 323 15 21.93 per Cent. 1.02 per Cent. Total 5,261 2,177 136