18. In some houses there are tiers of bunks placed against the walls, in others the rooms are divided into cubicles or cabins each measuring perhaps eight feet by eight feet and having partitions 6 feet in height. These cabins are not the temporary abodes of persons on a voyage but the more or less permanent homes of the people. There is little or no room for kitchens, and latrine accommodation is often limited to pail closets on the roofs of the buildings.
19. Year by year the Sanitary Department and the Building Authority have made efforts to improve the situation and with a considerable amount of success both as regards palliative and radical treatment. The task, almost sisyphean in itself, was rendered more difficult by paucity of water and by opposition put forward both by property owners and the occupiers.
20. It goes without saying that the maintenance of a satisfactory standard of sanitation under such conditions is a most difficult problem and one which cannot be solved without the willing co-operation of the people. One thing is certain, so long as buildings are over-crowded and insanitary, no amount of external sanitation will give immunity from disease.
21. With regard to Kowloon the case is different. This city, which is comparatively new, has been laid out in accordance with modern town planning principles.
Influence of traditional beliefs.
22. The traditional beliefs of the uneducated Chinese as to the cause of diseases, the means of spread and the factors which affect its course are so at variance with modern teaching, that there is little chance of promoting voluntary co-operation between them and the authorities in the matter of the prevention and control of disease until they can be brought to understand the true nature of the problems and are conscious of the usefulness of the measures advocated. The proximity of China and the constant intercourse makes it harder to overcome prejudices than is the case in countries further afield. The greatest hope lies in propaganda and education. However, leaders of opinion in China and leaders of Chinese thought in Hong Kong are making vigorous efforts to promote public health and public welfare along lines which have proved successful in the Occident, and the outlook is far more hopeful than was the case a few years ago when Chinese thought on matters of health was unduly swayed by old traditions and theories.
Quarantine impractical between Hong Kong and the River Ports.
23. So closely related are Hong Kong, Canton, Macao and the River Ports in the matter of trade, and such is the amount of traffic both human and goods which pass between them that, up-to-date, it has been found impossible to devise any system of
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18. In some houses there are tiers of bunks placed against the walls, in others the rooms are divided into cubicles or cabins each measuring perhaps eight feet by eight feet and having parti- tions 6 feet in height. These cabins are not the temporary abodes of persons on a voyage but the more or less permanent homes of the people. There is little or no room for kitchens. and latrine accommodation is often limited to pail closets on the roofs of the buildings.
19. Year by year the Sanitary Department and the Building Authority have made efforts to improve the situation and with a considerable amount of success both as regards palliative and radical treatment. The task almost sisyphean in itself, was rendered more difficult by paucity of water and by opposition put forward both by property owners and the occupiers
20. It goes without saying that the maintenance of a satis- factory standard of sanitation under such conditions is a most difficult problem and one which cannot be solved without the willing co-operation of the people. One thing is certain, so long as buildings are over-crowded and insanitary, no amount of ex- ternal sanitation will give immunity from disease.
21. With regard to Kowloon the case is different. This city which is comparatively new has been laid out in accordance with modern town planning principles.
Influence of traditional beliefs.
22. The traditional beliefs of the uneducated Chinese as to the cause of diseases, the means of spread and the factors which affect its course are so at variance with modern teaching, that there is little change of promoting voluntary co-operation between them and the authorities in the matter of the prevention and control of disease until they can be brought to understand the true nature of the problems and are conscious of the usefulness of the measures advocated. The proximity of China and the constant intercourse makes it harder to overcome prejudices than is the case in countries further afield. The greatest hope lies in propaganda and education. However leaders of opinion in China and leaders of Chinese thought in Hong Kong are making vigorous efforts to promote public health and public welfare along lines which have proved successful in the Occident, and the outlook is far more hopeful than was the case a few years ago when Chinese thought on matters of health was unduly swayed by old traditions and theories.
Quarantine impractical between Hong Kong and the River Parts.
23. So closely related are Hong Kong. Canton, Mac and the River Ports in the matter of trade, and such is the amount of traffic both human and goods which pass between them that, up-to-date it has been found impossible to devise any system of
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