72 The number of admissions to the Military Hospital of patients suffering from Secondary Syphilis was 16, compared with 21 in 1881. Here 16 contracted constitutional disease, a very unsatisfactory number as considering the percentage to the number admitted
73 Among the Police 12 contracted Secondary Syphilis out of the 40 cases admitted to Hospital, The percentage here is still worse than among the Military, but many admitted they contracted the disease from unlicensed prostitutes
74. Among the cases admitted to the Civil Hospital there were 45 suffering from Secondary Syphilis out of 124 Here also the percentage is very unsatisfactory, but it is not known to me how many of these cases were contracted in Hongkong.
75 In the Military, Naval, Police and Civil Hospitals it is customary to make inquiries as to where and when the disease was contracted, and if possible, when the disease has been contracted in Hongkong, to get the men to point out the house where, and the woman from whom it was contracted Many registered women have been thus pointed out, but it is very rare to find one of the accused suffering from disease As a matter of fact the men are rarely intimately acquainted with the town, are more than half seas over when on leave, and do not know where or with whom they have been In most cases it is more than probable they have been picked up by women on the street, hill side, or on boats, who are unregistered The examination the registered women undergo is most thorough, and it is impossible they should escape if diseased Many of the Army and Naval Medical Officers have attended the inspections and satisfied themselves on this point, some of them have examined women pointed out by the men under their charge as having diseased them, and have satisfied themselves that the woman has been free from disease With the rapid reduction in the sly brothels it is to be hoped that the future will bring cleaner bills of health, but it will take a considerable time and a great deal of trouble to sweep away the unlicensed houses that have arisen during the late period of inaction. Of 41 women summoned last year only 25 were convicted, the utmost care and circumspection has to be used in conducting these cases The commission did great good in exposing the abuses that had arisen in regard to prosecutions under the Contagious Diseases Ordinances
HEALTH OF THE COLONY AND SANITATION
The percentage
76 The number of deaths among Europeans was 55 as compared with 64 in 1881 to the number of residents was 1.80, the lowest percentage of deaths in the last ten years
77 The rainfall last year was 73.13 inches, the total number of days on which it rained 121. May, June, July, and August were the months in which most rain fell, 60 inches out of the 73 falling in those months. This is the smallest rainfall in any one year since 1874.
78. This year the Report of Mr CHADWICK, the Sanitary Commissioner sent out from England to report on the sanitary condition of Hongkong, has been received in the form of a Blue Book, and fully confirms all I have said in my reports from 1874 till now, and proves that if I have appeared to act the part of an alarmist it has not been without good and sufficient grounds It can only be with regret that any Colonist can look back on the past nine years that have been wasted, and the many great and valuable opportunities afforded for improved sanitation that in the last five years have not only been thrown away, but absolutely availed of to increase the number and size of the unwholesome dwellings so graphically described in Mr. CHADWICK's report
79. In the report he begins by a general description of Hongkong, in which he states that, "like the Europeans, few of the Chinese are permanent settlers, but only residents coming to Hongkong to avail themselves of the facilities offered by British rule for earning money with which they propose to return to their own country to end their days amongst their own people Seeing the benefit that it is acknowledged they receive from British rule, is it too much to expect that they should be required to conform to British laws, instead of the British laws, against the interest of the British people, being made to conform to Chinese ideas? They do not come here with philanthropic ideas of benefitting the Colony any more than the Europeans, but with the same desire of realising a competence and clearing out as soon as possible. One would think, to hear the sympathy that has been wasted on the native population, that we had come here as conquerors of a populous place, instead of having converted a barren island into a prosperous Colony, in which every resident of every nationality is more or less a bird of passage, from the wealthiest merchant whether European or Chinese to the poorest coolie. It ought not therefore to be permissible for one section or the other of the community to convert the Colony into a pest-house for the purpose of realising possession of the Almighty Dollar more speedily than legitimately
80 Mr CHADWICK, after describing the ordinary Chinese houses of Hongkong writes, "A moment's consideration of the samples of the Chinese Dwellings which I have given - examples not selected for badness, but fairly representative - will show that overcrowding exists to a very serious extent, both as to the number of inhabitants within a given cubic space, and as to the provision of proper proportion of open space for light and ventilation, and for giving free access to the building. Other sanitary defects are equally apparent. The type of house in Hongkong is quite different to that in use on the neighbouring mainland, and I am certain that the lower class population is more densely packed together in Hongkong, and worse provided with appliances for cleanliness than they are in Canton"
72 The number of admissions to the Military Hospital of patients suffering from Secondary Syphilis was 16, compared with 21 in 1881. Here 16 contracted constitutional disease, a very unsatisfactory number as considering the percentage to the number admitted
73 Among the Police 12 contracted Secondary Syphilis out of the 40 cases admitted to Hospital, The percentage here is still worse than among the Military, but many admitted they contracted the disease from unlicensed prostitutes
•
74. Among the cases admitted to the Civil Hospital there were 45 suffering from Secondary Syphilis out of 124 Here also the percentage is very unsatisfactory, but it is not known to me how many of these cases were contracted in Hongkong.
75 In the Military, Naval, Folice and Civil Hospitals it is customary to make inquiries as to where and when the disease was contracted, and if possible, when the disease has been contracted in Hongkong, to get the men to point out the house where, and the woman from whom it was contracted Many registered women have been thus pointed out, but it is very rare to find one of the accused suffering from disease As a matter of fact the men are rarely intimately acquainted with the town, are more than half seas over when on leave, and do not know where or with whom they have been In most cases it is more than probable they have been picked up by women on the street, hill side, or on boats, who are unregistered The examination the registered women undergo is most thorough, and it is impossible they should escape if diseased Many of the Army and Naval Medical Officers have attended the inspections and satisfied themselves on this point, some of them have examined women pointed out by the men under their charge as having diseased them, and have satisfied them- selves that the woman has been free from disease With the rapid reduction in the sly brothels it is to be hoped that the future will bring cleaner bills of health, but it will take a considerable time and a great deal of trouble to sweep away the unlicensed houses that have arisen during the late period of inaction. Of 41 women summoned last year only 25 were convicted, the utmost care and circumspec- tion has to be used in conducting these cases The commission did great good in exposing the abuses that had arisen in regard to prosecutions under the Contagious Diseases Ordinances
HEALTH OF THE COLONY AND SANITATION
The percentage
76 The number of deaths among Europeans was 55 as compared with 64 in 1881 to the number of residents was 1 80, the lowest percentage of deaths in the last ten years
77 The rainfall last year was 73 13 inches, the total number of days on which it rained 121. May, June, July, and August were the months in which most rain fell, 60. inches out of the 73 falling in those months. This is the smallest rainfall in any one year since 1874.
78. This year the Report of Mr CHADWICK, the Sanitary Commissioner sent out from England to report on the sanitary condition of Hongkong, has been received in the form of a Blue Book, and fully confirms all I have said in my reports from 1874 till now, and proves that if I have appeared to act the part of an alarmist it has not been without good and sufficient grounds It can only be with regret that any Colonist can look back on the past nine years that have been wasted, and the many great and valuable opportunities afforded for improved sanitation that in the last five years have not only been thrown away, but absolutely availed of to increase the number and size of the unwholesome dwellings so graphically described in Mr. CHADWICK's report
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79. In the report he begins by a general description of Hongkong, in which he states that, "like "the Europeans, few of the Chinese are permanent settlers, but only residents coming to Hongkong to "avail themselves of the facilities offered by British rule for earning money with which they propose to return to their own country to end their days amongst their own people Seeing the benefit that it is acknowledged they receive from British rule, is it too much to expect that they should be required to conform to British laws, instead of the British laws, against the interest of the British people, being made to conform to Chinese ideas? They do not come here with philanthropic ideas of benefitting the Colony any more than the Europeans, but with the same desire of realising a competence and clearing out as soon as possible. One would think, to hear the sympathy that has been wasted on the native population, that we had come here as conquerors of a populous place, instead of having converted a barren island into a prosperous Colony, in which every resident of every nationality is more or less a bird of passage, from the wealthiest merchant whether European or Chinese to the poorest coolie. It ought not therefore to be permissible for one section or the other of the community to convert the Colony into a pest-house for the purpose of realising possession of the Almighty Dollar more speedily than legitimately
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80 Mr CHADWICK, after describing the ordinary Chinese houses of Hongkong writes, "A moment's "consideration of the samples of the Chinese Dwellings which I have given- -examples not "selected for badness, but fairly representative will show that overcrowding exists to a very serious extent, both as to the number of inhabitants within a given cubic space, and as to the provision of proper proportion of open space for light and ventilation, and for giving free access to the building. Other sanitary defects are equally apparent. The type of house in Hongkong is quite different to that in use on the neighbouring mainland, and I am certain that the lower class population is more densely packed together in Hongkong, and worse provided with appliances for "cleanliness than they are in Canton "
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