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The City of Victoria including the Peak is divided into four sanitary areas and seventeen health districts. The villages on the south side of the island are in charge of one Inspector. Kowloon Peninsula has three health areas and seven health districts. It is estimated that on an average each Inspector has to deal with a population of 30,000 a very high figure for a tropical city and especially for one so overcrowded as Victoria.
Preventive measures against mosquito and insect-borne diseases.
Anti-mosquito work is divided between the Sanitary Department, the Public Works Department and the Medical Department.
The only law on the subject is the following by-law made under the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance.
"Prevention of the Dissemination of Disease by Mosquitoes".
"When larvae of mosquitoes are found on any premises the Board may on the advice of the Medical Officer of Health or any Assistant Medical Officer of Health, give notice to the owner or occupier of such premises to remove all accumulations of water from such premises or to take steps to prevent the recurrence of the breeding places of mosquitoes in any such accumulations of water, and such owner or occupier shall comply with such notice forthwith".
The Sanitary Inspectors are taught to distinguish between anophelines and culicines but progress beyond this elementary stage has not yet been attempted. There are no special mosquito inspectors attached to the Sanitary Department and the anti-mosquito brigade consists of two overseers and a squad of oiling coolies.
The routine work of oiling pools and inspecting premises for the presence of breeding places was carried out by the district inspectors. The usual cutting of undergrowth in May and October was done in conjunction with the Botanical and Forestry Department as regards Crown lands, and with the Military Authorities on military lands.
The relative importance of the different varieties of water collections in the propagation of malaria carrying anophelines has not been fully worked out. This is a very important matter for on its solution depends, to a great extent, the economies of preventive measures.