CO129-189 - Governor Hennessy - 1880 [7-9] — Page 93

All that can be said for the Tung Wah Hospital is, that it is kept fairly clean; the patients get good food, and, according to Chinese ideas, very comfortable accommodation. The one great good that this Hospital does is vaccination, which it has greatly assisted in spreading; 1,246 were vaccinated this year.

VICTORIA GAOL.

Table VIII., the number of prisoners treated in their cells. Table VII. shows the actual number of Hospital cases. The Hospital consists of seven small wards, only capable of holding two patients in each ward; so none but the worst cases are taken into Hospital, and even this accommodation is only for men; all women becoming seriously sick have to be sent to the Civil Hospital. There has been only one death in the Gaol this year, and most of the cases have originated outside. Diarrhoea, Dysentry, Fever, Bronchial Affections and old Ulcers have been the principal complaints treated.

I find the average number of prisoners who desire to see me daily is about fifty, but these are not all cases of disease, but applications for change of diet, alterations in their work, &c., and these are about the admissions daily to be inspected." I have been compelled to give extra diet to the European prisoners in a great many cases, and I would suggest an alteration in their diet, that, instead of a pint of tea for breakfast, they should have a pint of gruel; for I find that the tea in the morning causes a great deal of indigestion, and as the hardest labour of the day is done between breakfast and dinner, tea, I think, is a mistake.

Short sentence prisoners, such as drunken sailors sent in for 14 days, have the whole time on bread and water, which, I think, is too severe; seven days bread and water should, I think, be the longest time in this climate. It renders a man totally unfit for work when he goes out, and a glass of beer given by a friend would be quite enough to send him to Gaol again for being drunk and disorderly.

Table IX. shows the number of prisoners, as compared with the sickness and mortality in the Gaol. During this year several lunatics have been sent to Gaol, simply because they were lunatics, and there is no other place of safety in which to put them. The noise they make in the Gaol Hospital not only keeps the whole Gaol awake, but also the whole neighbourhood around. One case this year caused violent public indignation, and the patient, who is a woman, has been removed to a room in the half ruined Old Civil Hospital.

I would suggest that the upper story of this building be cleared away and the lower one repaired and roofed and kept for cases of this description, which not unfrequently occur. They should not be put in either the Hospital or the Gaol, for patients ought not to be disturbed by the frightful cries of a lunatic day and night, and I am sure the prisoners get sufficiently punished with hard fare and hard work without being deprived of their sleep at night.

LOCK HOSPITAL.

Vide 4.5.0, No. 14th April, 1873,

The improvement of having stoves in the wards of this building, as I suggested in my Report last year, I am glad to say has been carried out, and that leaves nothing to be desired.

Hardly any damage was done to the building by the Typhoon; only a windmill here and there was broken and a few panes of glass.

Table X.A. shows the number of admissions, which have been much less than usual, compared with the last few years. Table B. shows the number of women brought under the provisions of the Contagious Diseases Ordinance, and this number is also less than that of 1873.

Table C. shows the number of men diseased during the year, which is 207, as compared with 421 in 1873, or rather less than half the number.

Table E. shows the character of the diseases. It will be observed that only 3 cases of Primary Syphilis occurred among the Military, and only 4 cases of venereal disease, of all classes, were not contracted in Hongkong, and very few of the cases recorded as Primary Syphilis were contracted here. But the Military and Police show the working of the Ordinance best, as they are residents and know the licensed brothels better, not being so apt to be led away by sly prostitutes. With a considerable number more men in Port and Garrison, the amount of disease is shown to be less than half of what it was in 1873.

Of the Navy, out of 85 cases, 50 were contracted locally. The Police show the effectiveness of the Ordinance.

The largest number of women in Hospital this year at any one time was 58, and that was in the month of June. For the first time this year, the European and American women were brought under the Ordinance in August last, with good results, as several who were engaged in spreading disease quitted the Colony. They are visited at their own homes.

Owing to the number of cases of Fever of a Typhoid type being brought to the Civil Hospital from the Chinese licensed brothels, I received a request from the Government to inspect and report upon them. This I found had never been done by any of my predecessors.

I went through all the brothels, took note of every house, and reported the number of women it could decently contain, and what repairs or alterations required to be made.

Without exception, these places were filthy, overcrowded dens. The floors, walls, ceilings, black with filth and smoke; with sleeping rooms next to the privies and over them, separated from them only by thin planks, with wide apertures between the boards; buckets of night-soil of several days accumulation standing putrifying in the privies, and no disinfectants used; filthy kitchens, having no chimneys and the smoke pervading the house; drains choked up and stinking. In fact, I found all the conditions favourable for the production of Typhoid Fever.

In consequence of my Report, many houses were closed altogether. For the others, I wrote out instructions, some of which applied to all the brothels, others to individual houses only, concerning whitewashing, painting, cleaning, &c., the removal of privies, sleeping rooms, &c.

This winter, making the inspection, I find a wonderful change has been effected; the houses look clean, light and airy for the most part, and, by the end of this year, I hope to have them all in good condition. I have again gone through every house, and entered in a book what I desire should be done. To fairly inspect these houses requires about 15 inspections of an afternoon each, but the results have been well worth the trouble, for since the carrying out of my suggestions, no cases of Typhoid have been found in these houses.

There are 123 licensed Chinese brothels, containing 1,358 prostitutes now, besides the keepers, servants, &c.

I think I may fairly claim that good and efficient work has been done in this department under my charge.

C. G. Smith.

J. G. Austin.