AnnualReport-1879 — Page 119

In all cases almost without exception the floors of the rooms and passages, the walls and ceilings or roof were in filthy condition; so thick was the greasy dirt on the floors that it could be scraped aside with the foot.

In many cases the houses were quite unfit for use as brothels or human habitation, there being no ventilation at all, and many more were much overcrowded, rooms being built in rooms, not only sub- dividing the floor of one room, but, by building other rooms above the subdivisions, making one floor into two and so destroying the small amount of ventilation there was originally,

Such being the case, it is not at all wonderful to find cases of typhoid fever continually brought to hospital. I am bound to say these cases do not only come from brothels, and therefore do not merit the name of brothel fever given to them; for in many private houses of the poorer class that I have inspected the state of things is a hundred times worse than in the brothels; and if some remedy is not found for this state of things, sooner or later the fever that originates in the hovels of the poor will be found a formidable invader of the houses of the rich, and bring back to Hongkong, with good reason, its not enviable notoriety as a grave of Europeans. For it must be remembered that it is to these houses and to the Chinese brothels the servants go, and from them may bring the infection into the houses of their masters.

I have written out instructions, some of them applying to all the brothels, some to individual houses only, for the use of the Inspectors, and allowed a certain time for them to be acted upon; if not fully carried out in that time, the houses to be closed until the orders are obeyed. Some houses, about eight in number, I have ordered to be closed. But without continual and efficient superintendence and instruction as to what is required, the Inspectors cannot be of much use as regards sanatory arrangements, the impracticability of the blind leading the blind having been demonstrated by reliable authority.

I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Honourable J. G. AUSTIN,

Colonial Secretary.

Your obedient servant,

PH. B. C. AYRES,

Colonial Surgeon.

MINUTE BY THE COLONIAL SECRETARY.

If without exaggeration, this report reflects seriously upon the Government in respect to the past, and throws much responsibility upon it as regards the future.

There is no object to which I would devote time and attention more willingly than the amelioration of those parts of the town which are inhabited by the Chinese, but to do anything effectually in the matter would occupy much preparation and much time, and involve very consider- able outlay. We cannot therefore move in the matter on the spur of the moment. As regards the brothels, however, we can take immediate action, and I therefore suggest that the houses which are irremediably bad should be closed at once, and that the others should be left open only on condition that they shall be made satisfactory in all respects within a specified time.

I quite approve of the suggestion made by Dr. AYRES, that no brothel should hereafter be licensed without a certificate from a Medical Officer, but I think that the Surveyor General should also have some voice in the matter.

The Honourable the Registrar General will be good enough to give his opinion in the matter.

20th January, 1874.

J. G. AUSTIN,

Colonial Secretary.

MINUTE BY THE REGISTRAR GENERAL.

I am already in communication with the Colonial Surgeon on this matter, and have arranged to cancel or suspend the licences of those brothels which are not fit for occupation at all or in which the alterations required by Dr. AYRES are not effected within a reasonable time.

I entirely concur with him as to the obvious necessity of a Medical inspection of houses already licensed, which should be periodical, and of houses before they are licensed.

In all cases almost without exception the floors of the rooms and passages, the walls and ceilings or roof were in filthy condition; so thick was the greasy dirt on the floors that it could be scraped aside with the foot.

In many cases the houses were quite unfit for use as brothels or human habitation, there being no ventilation at all, and many more were much overcrowded, rooms being built in rooms, not only sub- dividing the floor of one room, but, by building other rooms above the subdivisions, making one floor into two and so destroying the small amount of ventilation there was originally,

Such being the case, it is not at all wonderful to find cases of typhoid fever continually brought to hospital. I am bound to say these cases do not only come from brothels, and therefore do not merit the name of brothel fever given to them; for in many private houses of the poorer class that I have inspected the state of things is a hundred times worse than in the brothels; and if some remedy is not found for this state of things, sooner or later the fever that originates in the hovels of the poor will be found a formidable invader of the houses of the rich, and bring back to Hongkong, with good reason, its not enviable notoriety as a grave of Europeans. For it must be remembered that it is to these houses and to the Chinese brothels the servants go, and from them may bring the infection into the houses of their masters.

I have written out instructions, some of them applying to all the brothels, some to individual houses only, for the use of the Inspectors, and allowed a certain time for them to be acted upon; if not fully carried out in that time, the houses to be closed until the orders are obeyed. Some houses, about eight in number, I have ordered to be closed. But without continual and efficient superintendence and instruction as to what is required, the Inspectors cannot be of much use as regards sanatory arrangements, the impracticability of the blind leading the blind having been demonstrated by reliable authority.

I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Honourable J. G. AUSTIN,

Colonial Secretary.

Your obedient servant,

PH. B. C. AYRES,

Colonial Surgeon.

MINUTE BY THE COLONIAL SECRETARY.

If without exaggeration, this report reflects seriously upon the Government in respect to the past, and throws much responsibility upon it as regards the future.

There is no object to which I would devote time and attention more willingly than the amelioration of those parts of the town which are inhabited by the Chinese, but to do anything effectually in the matter would occupy much preparation and much time, and involve very consider- able outlay. We cannot therefore move in the matter on the spur of the moment. As regards the brothels, however, we can take immediate action, and I therefore suggest that the houses which are irremediably bad should be closed at once, and that the others should be left open only on condition that they shall be made satisfactory in all respects within a specified time.

I quite approve of the suggestion made by Dr. AYRES, that no brothel should hereafter be licensed without a certificate from a Medical Officer, but I think that the Surveyor General should also have some voice in the matter.

The Honourable the Registrar General will be good enough to give his opinion in the matter.

20th January, 1874.

J. G. AUSTIN,

Colonial Secretary.

MINUTE BY THE REGISTRAR GENERAL.

I am already in communication with the Colonial Surgeon on this matter, and have arranged to cancel or suspend the licences of those brothels which are not fit for occupation at all or in which the alterations required by Dr. AYRES are not effected within a reasonable time.

I entirely concur with him as to the obvious necessity of a Medical inspection of houses already licensed, which should be periodical, and of houses before they are licensed.