1887-1903
COLONIAL REPORTS—ANNUAL,
11
167
the Chinese, and the inconsiderable effect it produced upon the trade and general prosperity of the Colony, as is evidenced by the satisfactory Revenue and Shipping returns for the year. It is true that a few of the wealthier Chinese sent their wives and families away during the height of the epidemic, but there was no general exodus, no scarcity of labour, no suspension of business, no lock-up of capital; in short, none of the disastrous results which characterised the year 1894, and but little indeed to indicate the prevalence of an alarming epidemic in the Colony.
As is not unusual during the prevalence of an epidemic, the Public Health in other respects was satisfactory. The total number of deaths registered during the year was 5,860, of which 5,607 occurred amongst the Chinese. This gives a total death-rate of 24.5 per 1,000 as compared with 21.65 per 1,000 for 1895 and an average of 22.65 for the last 5 years, exclusive of 1894, the year of the disastrous plague epidemic. If deaths from Bubonic Plague are excluded, the death-rate for the year under review is reduced to 19.9 per 1,000, and compares most favourably with the average for previous years.
SANITATION.
The experience of a second epidemic of Plague reveals the necessity of further speedy and effective measures in the direction of sanitation; for it cannot be denied that the sanitary condition of the Colony is still capable of much improvement, and more especially in regard to the native quarters of the city. With this object in view I have appointed a Commission to enquire into and report on the existence of insanitary dwellings and the best method of dealing with them. It is to be hoped that the Commissioners will be able to suggest some effective remedial measures in this direction, the importance of which cannot be over-estimated, if "the house is to be put in order" against the apparently recurrent attacks of the Plague.
In the meanwhile active progress is being made in other directions. The sewerage of practically the whole of Victoria, of the Peak District, and of some of the more important villages, has been completed and over 5,800 houses have been drained and connected with the new sewers. The district of Taipingshan covering some 6 acres in extent, which was resumed by the Government after the epidemic of 1894, is being laid out in a manner that cannot fail to improve greatly the health of that district and the City of Victoria generally. In addition, something in the nature of a transformation is being effected in the smaller but populous villages by the formation of proper streets and the regulation of the occupation of land.
The water supply, which is of vital importance to the health of the community, has been increased by the raising of the dam