The principal decrease in fines has been from Government Contractors, who have don"their work better this year.
Table XVIII is the Meteorological Report for the year, in which it will be observed that the rainfall was 94.70, which has only been exceeded by two years out of the last ten.
The temperature has also only been exceeded by two years out of the ten.
As regards sanitation, especially of the Chinese quarters of the town, it progresses but slowly. The only improvement in the houses lately built that I have noticed, is they are not so liable to take fire. having less woodwork about them, but whether this can be called an improvement is doubtful in a town where a fire in the Chinese quarter, at least, nught be looked upon in the light of a sanitary dis- pensation of Providence. Says Dr. B. W. RICHARDSON in one of his works,
"Pure air, pure water, purity from damp, pure light and equable temperature. These are the five fingers of the right hand of health." I should be glad to know any one of these necessaries of health was ever discovered in a Chinese house. Pure air is hardly to be obtained in houses without chimneys, or with such as will not work. Pure water Chinese do not get much of, and it is not likely to continue pure long after being carried into a Chinese house. Purity from damp! why the whole of the back of the housek where the kitchens are reeks with it; the walls are not only saturated with water but also with urine. Pure light! how much light of any sort gets into a Chinese house? Equable temperature,-well you do get that, it is equable enough to suffocate any but those inured to it. The nearest approach they get to the five fingers of the right hand of health is in Gaol, though, as regards air, even there a very great deal might be done still."
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
PH. B. C. AYRES, Colonial Surgeon.
Honourable F. STEWART, LL.D.,
Acting Colonial Secretary,
sv.,
C
$e.
THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT CIVIL HOSPITAL TO THE COLONIAL SURGEON.
GOVERNMENT CIVIL HOSPITAL,
HONGKONG, 22nd April, 1880. SIR,I have the honour to forward the Hospital statistics for the year 1879, with observations thereon.
The Hospital work during the past twelve months has been carried on under many and great disadvantages.
When the year opened, the Superintendent and the Hospital staff had just been installed in the Lock Hospital building at West Point. The staff consisted of the Portuguese Steward, who did the dispensing as well as he could, a Portuguese, who performed some of the Steward's duties, the Chinese Clerk, one Portuguese and one Chinese Wardmaster, and a number of Chinese coolies. Nearly all the stores of bedding, clothing and drugs, and Hospital furniture and fittings had been destroyed in the fire, and had to be replaced; and the limited space of the Lock Hospital building had to be adapted as far as possible to the requirements of the Civil Hospital Establishment. This adaptation entailed a certain amount of carpentering and bricklaying, and the building itself being somewhat out of repair. it had to be thoroughly overhauled; the business of the Hospital being carried on as usual during the alterations and repairs.
The cold was severely felt both in the beginning and end of the year, but stoves have now been placed in most of the rooms which were not so provided.
accurate.
The description of the temporary Civil Hospital building contained in my last report, is tolerably The accommodation for patients, however, is there overstated, as, if each patient in the large wards be allowed 90 square feet and 1,200 cubic feet of space (not a large allowance), the numbers which can be accommodated must be stated as under:----
Ordinary cases,
Special,
Private,
{ Medical and}
Surgical f
Venereal Female
1st Class
2nd
37
29
.12
7
4
1
161
The fit bell in the Hospital compound alluded to last year, no longer annoys the patients, but for some months past from daylight to dark they have had to bear the noise of stone-masons and builders engaged in the construction of a new Lock Hospital.
The new Lock Hospital, as it has risen from the foundations, has interfered with the light and ventilation of the lower wards of the Civil Hospital, from which, at one corner, it is only 6 yards distant, and when completed in due course, it appears to be intended that the inmates of the Civil Hospital shall be able to see the prostitutes come up for examination every day. It seems rather a pity that a house for the examination and seclusion of prostitutes should have been erected in such a conspicuous position, but it is still possible for a private entrance to be made, by which the women may enter and leave without attracting attention.
The notice of the Government was last year directed to two dangerous nuisances in the immediate neighbourhood of the Hospital; one is the public dead-house of the Colony, situated at the South-west corner of the Hospital at 11 yards distance. This is frequently made the receptacle for bodies in advanced stages of decomposition, pending the Coroner's inquest, and when the South-west monsoon is blowing. the sickening effluvia from these bodies are carried into the Hospital. The other nuisance is a public latrine, which adjoins the west side of the Hospital compound and can hardly be looked upon as a fit neighbour for a Hospital. Both these nuisances are still in existence.
Another annoyance to which the patients are exposed, is from the noisy occupations of the tenants of the houses which have been erected in the neighbourhood during the last few years. Some of these,--coopers, tin and brass-smiths, &c..--are wont to carry on their work from early morning till late into the night. Street hawkers, too, are very noisy at times; and the Chinese theatres add to the din with the clash of cymbals and drums, which is kept up till 11 p.m.
In the beginning of the year, the post of Apothecary being vacant, it was proposed to fill it by the appointment of a qualified medical man, and a requisition was sent home for a Surgeon, who was to be Apothecary and Government Analyst as well. It is to be presumed that the search for such a combination of qualifications was not successful, for the Home Authorities were content to send out a gentleman who is an Apothecary and Analyst, but not a Surgeon.
Mr. MCCALLUM, who arrived in November, is a very able man, of considerable experience, and he satisfies a great want in the Establishment. The medical stores are now properly cared for and dis- peused with economy and accuracy, and the Government analyses, many of which were formerly handed over to the local chemists, are now all undertaken by Mr. MCCALLUM, and a considerable saving effected to the Government. A. properly fitted laboratory still remains to be constructed, analyses being at present performed in the Hospital building, the occupants of which get the benefit of the noxious fumes generated.
A good deal of trouble was experienced in getting the Steward's duties properly performed. For the first ten months of the year the Steward, Mr. SENNA, was acting as dispenser, and during that time there were no fewer than three successive acting Stewards.
At the end of the year there was some difficulty in connection with the money collected for Hos- pital charges. These charges are now almost entirely collected by the Treasury, and the supervision of the accounts has been committed to the Superintendent of the Hospital. Under the new arrangements there will be no occasion for any large sum of money to remain in the hands of the Steward.
The assistant Surgeon who was hoped for has not yet arrived, although he is needed as much as ever. It has happened that patients have experienced considerable suffering, and even lost their only chance of life, owing to the absence of the Surgeon from the Hospital when they were brought in. The Hospital is open day and night for the reception of accidents and cases of emergency, and such are frequently brought in from ships in the Harbour and elsewhere. The care of the sick in Hospital, too, demands the constant attendance of a medical mau. These and other reasons for the appointment of an assistant Surgeon have been represented to the Government, and it is possible that at some future time steps will be taken to supply the want.
In the absence of any provision against fire in the Hospital, several lengths of hose with nozzles, &c., were obtained from the Superintendent of the Fire Brigade, and the Hospital coolies have occasion- ally been exercised in connecting these with the hydrant in Hospital Road. This hydrant is some little distance below the Hospital, but it is so much the nearer to the Chinese houses in Sai-ying-poon, and on several occasions when fire broke out in the neighbouring houses, the Hospital employés were able to keep it in check till the arrival of the firemen.
The Hospital Register for 1879 records 1107 cases; 36 of these, comprising superficial wounds, with one case of mercurial poisoning and one bitten thumb, were treated in the surgery and then dismissed; two of the others were brought in moribund and died in a few hours. Thus 1,071 represents the number of patients who underwent treatment in the Hospital, (not including those-37-who remained in Hospital on the 31st December, 1878). Of these, 570 were Police, and 501 were seamen, private residents, destitutes, prisoners, &c.
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