1841-1886
HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.
259
"A. No, sir; the small-pox has been among them, as it has been among others, but I think there has been less small-pox among them, I mean the ratio of population allowed, than with the whites."
109. On recently calling the attention of the Health Officer of Hong Kong, Dr. Adams, to this evidence, he remarked that it agreed with his own experience, and that he was often surprised to see how very generally the Chinese passengers who came under his notice as Medical Emigration Officer had been vaccinated or inoculated. He said he had rarely seen a Chinese child on whose arm could not be detected three or four of the characteristic marks of vaccination.
110. It is quite possible that the comparative freedom of the Chinese in San Francisco from small-pox to which Dr. Stout refers may, to some extent, be due to the enlightened action of the directors of the largest hospital in Hong Kong, the Tung Wah Hospital. The medical staff of the Government does not do very much in the way of vaccination, as far as the great mass of the community is concerned. But certain Chinese doctors, who are paid by the Directors of the Tung Wah Hospital, are indefatigable vaccinators. They do not confine their labours to the town of Victoria, but travel through the villages of the Island, vaccinating all newly born children. Since 1878 they have gone beyond the Colony and vaccinated in the neighbouring towns and villages of the Kwangtung Province.
111. When it is remembered that Hong Kong is constantly being visited by steamers and ships from places where small-pox exists, and that the rapid commercial movement in the harbour renders the Colony peculiarly liable to the introduction of the disease, there can be little doubt that the immunity we have enjoyed for some years past has been largely due to the efficient vaccination conducted under the auspices of the Tung Wah Hospital.
112. The directors are now building a special small-pox hospital to the south of the Tung Wah Hospital. All the expenses of this new building, as well as the salaries of the travelling vaccinators, are defrayed by the voluntary subscriptions of the Chinese Community of Hong Kong. This is exclusive of the annual subscriptions, amounting to about $7,000, they provide amongst themselves in aid of the Endowment Funds of the Tung Wah Hospital.
113. Dr. Stout's statements as to the healthiness of the Chinese in San Francisco, though living so closely packed, may tend to explain a discrepancy which your Lordship cannot have failed to notice between the contradictory assertions made occasionally by some leading Europeans in this Colony, including even one or two officials, and the annual reports made at the same time for the information of Parliament by my predecessor.
114. In Sir Arthur Kennedy's Blue Book Report, dated 10th of September 1874, he said :-"The general health of the Colony has been satisfactory." Mr. Administrator Austin in the Blue
635
1841-1886
HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.
259
"A. No, sir; the small-pox has been among them, as it has been among others, but I think there has been less small-pox among them, I mean the ratio of population allowed, than with the whites."
109. On recently calling the attention of the Health Officer of Hong Kong, Dr. Adams, to this evidence, he remarked that it agreed with his own experience, and that he was often surprised to see how very generally the Chinese passengers who came under his notice as Medical Emigration Officer had been vaccinated or inoculated. He said he had rarely seen a Chinese child on whose arm could not be detected three or four of the characteristic marks of vaccination.
110. It is quite possible that the comparative freedom of the Chinese in San Francisco from small-pox to which Dr. Stout refers may, to some extent, be due to the enlightened action of the directors of the largest hospital in Hong Kong, the Tung Wah Hospital. The medical staff of the Government does not do very much in the way of vaccination, as far as the great mass of the community is concerned. But certain Chinese doctors, who are paid by the Directors of the Tung Wah Hospital, are inde- fatigable vaccinators. They do not confine their labours to the town of Victoria, but travel through the villages of the Island, vaccinating all newly born children. Since 1878 they have gone beyond the Colony and vaccinated in the neighbouring towns and villages of the Kwangtung Province.
111. When it is remembered that Hong Kong is constantly being visited by steamers and ships from places where small-pox exists, and that the rapid commercial movement in the harbour renders the Colony peculiarly liable to the introduction of the disease, there can be little_doubt that the immunity we have enjoyed for some years past has been largely due to the efficient vaccination conducted under the auspices of the Tung Wah Hospital.
112. The directors are now building a special small-pox hospital to the south of the Tung Wah Hospital. All the expenses of this new building, as well as the salaries of the travelling vaccinators, are defrayed by the voluntary subscriptious of the Chinese Com- munity of Hong Kong. This is exclusive of the annual subscrip- tions, amounting to about $7,000, they provide amongst themselves in aid of the Endowment Funds of the Tung Wah Hospital.
113. Dr. Stout's statements as to the healthiness of the Chinese in San Francisco, though living so closely packed, may tend to explain a discrepancy which your Lordship cannot have failed to notice between the contradictory assertions made occasionally by some leading Europeans in this Colony, including even ene or two officials, and the annual reports made at the same time for the information of Parliament by my predecessor.
114. In Sir Arthur Kennedy's Blue Book Report, dated 10th of September 1874, he said :-"The general health of the Colony has been satisfactory." Mr. Administrator Austin in the Blue
635
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