PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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TLC.O. 133 / 27
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
4.
No. 13.
260
133
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION,
The following Report of the Colonial Surgeon, with Returns annexed for the Year 1870, is published for general information.
By Command,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 20th January, 1871.
J. GARDINER AUSTIN, Colonial Secretary.
VICTORIA, HONGKONG, 17th January, 1871. In my Sanitary Report for 1870, being the Twelfth I have had the honor of subinitting to the Government. I rejoice to be able to continue to record the improvement which has taken place in the health of the Colony since 1858. When the sudden and startling death of several members of our community is recalled to our recollection, we are prepared to find that 1870 has been eminently unhealthy. But the vital statistics of the past year, as shown in the following Tables, point out, that in the Gaol, the improvement has been so marked that the mortality has been lower than in any year previously recorded-and if among the general community it appears somewhat larger, it must not be forgotten that the Tables are calculated upon the Census of 1869, and that the additional five deaths recorded would probably not increase the percentage of mortality above the average, if the Tables were compiled from more correct data, which will never be obtained until a proper system of Registration of Deaths is enforced by law. There can, however, be no doubt that in the early part of the summer, and up to the 3rd of August, there was a great and unusual increase of fever among the residents. For the most part it was not of a dangerous type, although by its tendency to relapse, it caused great prostration; but in one or two cases it assumed something of the character of typhus, and proved rapidy fatal. Opinions varied among practitioners, as to the cause of this disease, and I am aware that it was generally attributed to some cuttings in the hill side, and the spreading of the cut soil over the roads undergoing repair. I have never, however, concurred in this view, and believe that the sole cause of the malady must be traced to the remarkably small fall of rain, which had taken place previous to the 3rd of August. I was led to form this opinion from the fact, that although cases of fever really did occur in the immediate neighborhood of, and to leeward of these cuttings, and in certain localities in considerable number, this was not always the case; and not only was fever absent, in certain other localities, equally exposed to the supposed exhalations, but it occurred both to windward of them, and in places where there had been no such cuttings. I think it much more reasonable to cast the onus on the absence of rain, and the state of our drains; for this reason, that no sooner did rain fall on the 3rd of August, in sufficient quantity to wash out the sewers, than a marked amelioration took place in the health of the community.
1867.
RAIN FALL from 1st January to 31st July for the last four Years registered at the Government Civil Hospital.
Mootha.
1803.
1800.
1870.
January,.
1,07
0.79
0.78
0.30
February,
0,40
0.49
3.21
0.40
March,
6.57
2.00
4.15
3.30
April,
2.23
0.55
4.17
0.31
May,
10.00
10.07
10.01
10.20
June,
8.22
30.79
9.12
4.04
July,
Totul,
17.11
6.53
6.83
4.74
46.92
57.12
38.27
30.35
And this naturally leads me to refer to the drains. It is not creditable to this Colony that after their unhealthy condition has been pointed out, both by myself and by the Sanitary Commission, they should remain as they are, a source of disease and death. In the early part of the past year the tenants, and others interested in the Prayu lots, applied to the Government, through me, in regard to the seaward openings of the drains, and the noxious emanations from the foreshore, but the lowness of the public exchequer is the excuse offered for the unavoidable continuation of this most dangerous nuisance. Pending some more radical improvement, the drains should be run out into deep water, so as to prevent sewerage being exposed on the foreshore at low tides, and the openings trapped, to prevent the wind blowing up them, and thus forcing the foul air out at the various gratings through- out the town. Carbolic acid has been freely used, but no amount of it will suffice, until the system of drainage has been entirely remodelled us recommended by the Sanitary Commission.
Typhus fever was imported in eight vessels from Yokolaina between the 10th February and the 11th May-and all these vessels were placed in quarantine. In the eight vessels, there were thirteen cases of fever, of which number one terminated fatally. The Health Officer of the Port, Dr. Adam, has as promised hast year, sent in a. Report on the subject of the connection between this disent and the ballasting of whips with tidal mud, a subject which has attracted considerable attention in other countries. Or 233 vessels in ballast, only 20 carried mud alone, obtained from Shanghai; and in those 20 ne case of fever occurred—“124 of the total number ca:ne from Yokohama, Japan, ballasted