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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

ITILITICO. 885

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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of about 48,000 Chinese, who live on the 12,000 and odd boats belonging to the port and villages of the Colony. The boats include 4,300 engaged in passenger and cargo traffic, 4,180 in fishing, and 1.690 trading junks. (c) The territory on the mainland known as Kowloon, in which there are about 80,000 Chinese.

The sanitary staff of the city of Victoria includes a Medical Officer of Health and ten sanitary inspectors, and for Kowloon an Assistant Medical Officer of Health and three inspectors. In addition there are four inspectors in charge of the scaveng- ing work, one inspector of cemeteries, and one in charge of the city disinfection station. In the different sanitary districts, which are in charge of an inspector, the number of Chinese dwellings is usually between 900 and 1,000, the Chinese popu- lation in them varying between 16,000 and 25,000.

I spent three weeks in the Colony during January, 1912, and had opportunities of studying the local conditions and of discussing the yellow fever problem in its connection with India and the Far East not only with the official authorities of Hong Kong, but with members of the United States Public Health and Marine Hospital Service from Manila, who, like myself, were delegates to the Congress of the Far Eastern Medical Association, which was held from the 22nd to the 27th of January. Up to the time of my visit the authorities of the Colony had not taken under consideration the question that special measures for preventing the entry of yellow fever into the port, and for putting the city into a condition of preparedness to cope with an epidemic of the disease, might be necessary. His Excellency the Governor and other officials were, however, much interested in the subject, and it is probable that the attention drawn to it by the action of the Government of India may lead to the initiation of such measures. In my opinion the present quarantine regulations are not in all respects in line with modern requirements, and as regards their execution it appeared to me that the arrangements for the inspection and control of ships could suitably he improved so as to enable the authorities to deal more efficiently with the enormous traffic of the port. The absence of a properly situated and well-equipped quarantine station is unfortunate, as the present station at. Lai-chi-kok is not in a position to supply the deficiency.

One of the most important problems in connection with the possible spread of yellow fever to the Colony is whether stegomyia fasciata does or does not occur there. Measures with a view to diminish potential and actual breeding places of mosquitoes have been carried on more or less continuously since about 1900, but the only syste- matic attempt to ascertain what kinds of mosquitoes are present was made by Dr. Thomson as long ago as 1901. He arranged that adult mosquitoes should be collected in the police stations throughout the Colony, and from the examination of about 32,000 specimens received from those places classified the mosquitoes of the Colony as belonging to some 15 species, among which were three anophelines, namely, maculatus, simensis, and minimus, and one stegomyia, namely, scutellaris. His paper contains no description of a mosquito with the characteristic markings of fasciata. During my visit I spent as much time as possible in searching favourable parts of the city for larve of that species, but owing to the unusual coldness of the season it was exceedingly difficult to find mosquitoes of any kind, and the only larvæ that I obtained were those of anopheles maculatus, desvoiden obturbans, and stegomyia scutellaris. The problem of the presence or absence of fasciata, therefore, was still unsettled, but before I left official arrangements were made for a thorough enquiry into the mosquitoes of the Colony, and a matter of such great interest and importance cannot much longer remain in doubt.

The island of Singapore is only four days' journey from Hong Kong. It lies scarcely more than one degree north of the Equator, and climatic and other conditions in it are all the year round favourable to the prevalence of yellow fever in epidemic form. The mean temperature is about 80° F., and the average annual rainfall about 90 inches. There is no marked distinction between the climate at different seasons of the year. Extensive areas of the country are covered with virgin jungle, forests, and mangrove swamps, and even within the municipal limits of the city of Singapore much of the land is low-lying, and holds numerous ponds and streamlets which are suitable breeding places for mosquitoes. There are about 27,000 houses in the city, and the population numbers about 260,000, of whom nearly 195,000 are Chinese, 28,000 Malays, and 25,000 Indian. Every year between 100,000 and 200,000 immigrants, mostly agricultural labourers, arrive from China.

Conditions throughout the city are very favourable to mosquito life, and both

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stegomyia fasciata and scutellaris, as well as several species of culicines and anophe- lines, are exceedingly abundant. Although the city is provided with a municipal water-supply, the practice of storing water in cisterns, barrels, and jars has not been abandoned, and stegomyia mosquitoes also find favourable breeding places in the numerous tins, jars, bottles, earthenware vessels, &c., with which the ground in the vicinity of dwellings is strewn.

The authorities at Singapore are fully alive to the possibility of infection with yellow fever, but so far as I could learn it is not generally believed that the trade of the port will be materially influenced or increased as a result of the opening of the Panama Canal, and I understood from the Port Health Officer that unless Hong Kong became infected it would not he considered necessary to take special measures of protection. The port already has a large and well-equipped quarantine station (suitable for both Europeans and natives) situated on an island which is free from mosquitoes, and there are also complete arrangements for fumigating ships by means of the Clayton apparatus. The quarantine regulations,* which are strictly applied, are reproduced in the appendices to this report.

S. P. JAMES, Major,

I. M. S.

NOTE ON THE PRACTICABILITY OF STEGOMYIA REDUCTION IN INDIAN SEAPORTS. It is clear, I think, that the measures recommended in my report on the pro- tection of India from yellow fever are sufficient to provide an adequate safeguard against that disease during at least the next few years, and that, if they are adopted, the authorities need not turn aside towards temporary and more or less make-shift expedients, but can proceed uninterruptedly with that permanent reform of seaport sanitation which, on account of the immense growth of industrial develop- ment and of overseas traffic, has become a matter of international concern, and is universally admitted to be one of the most urgent sanitary needs at the present time. 2. It is known also, from the experience of cities such as Panama, Colon, New Orleans, and Honolulu, that one of the best and quickest means of bringing the sanitary condition of a seaport up to a standard that is satisfactory from the inter- national as well as from the local point of view, is to institute in it those kinds of measures that are necessary for effecting the permanent reduction of stegomyia mosquitoes. Quite apart from the desirability of attaining permanent safety against yellow fever this is, in itself, a sufficient reason why anti-stegomyia measures should form an important item in the sanitary policy relating to our seaports.

3. Being sure, therefore, that stegomyia reduction should be accomplished in Indian seaports if it is possible to do so, only the problem of its practicability remains to be considered.

4. On this subject it may be said first, that the habits and breeding places of stegomyia fasciata are such as to warrant the conclusion that, if the necessary measures can be applied, it is far easier to reduce the numbers of this mosquito than it is to reduce the numbers of any other kind, and that we know that in places such as Havana, Panama, and Colon its permanent reduction has in fact heen accomplished.

5. But everyone who is aware of the social and political difficulties connected with the institution of sanitary reforms in India realises that the methods by which the reduction was effected in those places cannot be adopted in this country, and that we must endeavour to produce the results aimed at by other methods than those which include legislation, compulsory inspection, and the fining of owners and tenants on whose premises larvæ are found.

6. The solution of the problem of how to accomplish stegomyia reduction in India must, therefore, be sought in a plan of campaign quite different from that usually recommended; and in a plan that will be welcomed, rather than opposed, by the people. The following are my suggestions regarding such a plan.

7. From the observations that I have recently had an opportunity of making in Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Karachi, and Rangoon, it seems clear that the key to the problem of reducing stegomyia mosquitoes in Indian seaports lies in the water- supply. This subject is only indirectly touched upon in the reports of the Stego- myia Surveys, but there is no doubt, I think, that the present deficiencies in the supply are the essential cause of the prevalence of stegomyia fasciata in those places.

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• Not sent to the Colonial Office.

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