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Memorandum by Kr E. Osborne.

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference:-

www.mmm .CO. 537

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RECORD OFFICE, LONDON OUT PERMISSION OF THE PUBLIC REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHICALLY WITH- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH - NOT TO BE

1. Having been a Member of the Sanitary Board when the

Public Health Ordinance was under discussion I am

familiar with the controversy that took place concern-

ing it, and for the reason that drastic measures seemed

imperative I, with others, agreed in the main with its

provisions.

2. Ten years have intervened. The Ordinance has had

full and fair trial, its provisions have been enforced

at large sacrifice to the Colony's material welfare

and to the discomfort of the Chinese population,

notwithstanding which plague has not disappeared and I

doubt whether it has even diminished to any large

extent.

3. Under these circumstances the time has surely

arrived for a revision of our methods, unless evidence

be forthcoming that the measures legalised by the

Public Health Ordinance have resulted in more good,

than is apparent on the surface.

4. The abolition of cubicles renders it impossible for

a family of small means to live in the Colony or it

drives them to the use of curtains as partitions,

which by reason of their filth are a worse evil than

the old wooden ones.

I suggest a modified form of cubicle be allowed, kade

of pained woodwork and glass (or iron and glass) raised

from the floor and of such height as not to exclude

light and air,

5. The so called limewashing entails expenditure by tenants (for tenants pay in the long run) with no

corresponding good, as the mixture slopped on to the

walls is valueless except to accentuate the surrounding