1841-1886
HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.
255
successors condemned it, and the sanitarium was for some years abandoned.
94. Governor Sir Richard Macdonnell, who had some experience of the difference of residing at a high and low level on the coast of Africa, tried the sanitarium on the Peak again and with complete success. The Governor's example has since been followed by European merchants or officials who can afford to build villas amongst the hills; on the European children especially the good effect of the change from the hot stagnant atmosphere of Victoria Harbour to the fresh breezes of the Peak in the summer is very marked.
95. Of late years the medical dictum about the fever-producing quality of trees has also been reversed, and the sanitary advantages of tree planting established.
96. The Ordinance No. 8 of 1856, “An Ordinance for Buildings and Nuisances," gives the Local Government complete control over the construction of all buildings in the Colony. This law contains a series of minute and stringent rules, with adequate penalties, framed to prevent the construction of any houses that are not built on what was then supposed to be the best sanitary principles. The Ordinance was evidently copied almost entirely from certain Sanitary and Building Acts in force, at that time, in England. I cannot find that the Chinese householders were in any way consulted on the subject when it was being framed and passed; and the result is that some of its provisions are entirely unsuited to this Colony and would do more harm than good if enforced. Amongst other things, Clause VIII. provides that it shall not be lawful to construct or re-construct any house without a sufficient water-closet or privy; this is copied from an English Act, but the system of water-closets and house privies is a system quite out of place in a tropical Colony, and not in accordance with the customs of the Chinese people.
97. The Chinese house-bucket system, especially when combined with the dry earth system (which in various ways, more or less perfect, they have practised for centuries), is far better than a system of water-closets and house privies. The Chinese inhabitants maintain that the attempts now and then made by successive Surveyor Generals and Colonial Surgeons to force what is called "western sanitary science" upon them are not based on sound principles. As I stated in the Legislative Council in November 1878, in a discussion in which I referred to Ordinance 8 of 1856, the leading Chinese residents had said to me:-
Nothing alarms us more than the Government projects of drainage and water supply for flushing house sewage. They are not consistent with our mode of living.”
98. On that occasion I quoted the views of one of the most experienced medical men in China, Dr. Dudgeon of Peking, in support of the Chinese house-bucket system as opposed to the underground drainage system, whether connected with water-closets or house privies. In his work on "The Diseases of China contrasted with those of Europe," he says:-
"Much that is recommended at home in the way of ventilation,
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631
1841-1886
HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.
255
successors condemned it, and the sanitarium was for some years abandoned.
·
94. Governor Sir Richard Macdonnell, who had some ex- perience of the difference of residing at a high and low level on the coast of Africa, tried the sanitarium on the Peak again and with complete success. The Governor's example has since been followed by European merchants or officials who can afford to build villas aniongst the hills; on the European children especially the good effect of the change from the hot stagnant atmosphere of Victoria Harbour to the fresh breezes of the Peak in the summer is very marked.
A
95. Of late years the medical dictum about the fever-producing quality of trees has also been reversed, and the sanitary ad- vantages of tree planting established.
1
-
96. The Ordinance No. 8 of 1856, “An Ordinance for Build- ❝ings · and› Nuisances," gives the Local Government complete control over i the construction of all buildings in the Colony. This law contains a series of minute and stringent rules, with adequate penalties, framed to prevent the construction of any houses that are not built on what was then supposed to be the best sanitary principles. The Ordinance was evidently copied almost entirely from certain Sanitary and Building Acts in force, at that time, in England. I cannot find that the Chinese house- holders were in any way consulted on the subject when it was being framed and passed; and the result is that some of its pro- visions are entirely unsuited to this Colony and would do more harm than good if enforced. Amongst other things, Clause VIII. provides that it shall not be lawful to construct or re-construct any house without a sufficient water-closet or privy; this is copied from an English Act, but the system of water-closets and house privies is a system quite out of place in a tropical Colony, and not in accordance with the customs of the Chinese people.
"
97. The Chinese house-bucket system, especially when com- bined with the dry earth system (which in various ways, more or less perfect, they have practised for centuries), is far better than a system of water-closets and house privics. The Chinese inhabi- tants maintain that the attempts now and then made by successive Surveyor Generals and Colonial Surgeons to force what is called "western. sanitary science" upon them are not based on sound principles. As I stated in the Legislative Council in November 1878, in a discussion in which I referred to Ordinance 8 of 1856, the leading Chinese residents had said to me:-
(C
Nothing alarms us more than the Government projects of drainage and water supply for flushing house sewage. They are not consistent with our mode of living.”
98. On that occasion I quoted the views of one of the most experienced medical men in China, Dr. Dudgeon of Peking, in support of the Chinese house-bucket system as opposed to the underground drainage system, whether connected with water- closets or house privies. In his work on "The Diseases of China ❝ contrasted with those of Europe," he says:-
"Much that is recommended at home in the way
·
of ventilation,
631
Page 650Page 651
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