M 14
# SECTION II.
## PUBLIC HEALTH.
### A. GENERAL REMARKS.
1. It is usual to gauge the health of a community by the death rate for a high death rate means a high sickness rate and vice versa. The number of deaths recorded indicates very correctly the deaths which have taken place in the Colony, but owing to the desire of the Chinese to expire in their native towns and villages and the consequent exodus of many who feel their end to be approaching, the death records considerably lower than would be the case were all the deaths from diseases contracted or developed in the Colony recorded against it. Even if the death figures were corrected, the absence of accurate figures for the population makes it difficult to obtain rates which would form useful bases for comparisons.
2. The following Table shows the death rates of the Colony calculated on the deaths recorded and the estimated population.
Year Estimated Population Deaths Chinese Others Total Chinese Rate Others Rate Total Rate 1927 873,900 16,500 890,400 14,525 16.3 218 13.2 14,761 16.5 1928 961,290 18,150 979,440 14,553 15.1 182 10.0 14,757 15.0More than half of the deaths were due to respiratory diseases and 30 per cent of the whole were caused by pulmonary tuberculosis which stands out as the principal death-causing disease of the Colony.
3. General Diseases. The only figures available for judging the prevalence of the different diseases included under the class called "general" are those furnished by the Government Hospitals and the Western Clinics of the Chinese Hospitals, Tung Wah and Kwong Wah. These figures are, however, only a fraction of the whole and too much importance should not be placed on deductions made from them. Though the educated Chinese appreciate the value of so-called Western Medicine, the bulk of the population still pin their faith to the old-fashioned Chinese decoctions and when ill seek advice from one or more of the many empiricists who practice in the City. A number of those who enter the Government hospitals do so only after they have made full trial of Chinese medicines and have exhausted their means of subsistence.
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