168
The former duty was contemplated when Section XV of Ordinance No. 10 of 1867 hs drafted, and the latter can now be enforced by a Departmental Order or by a Regulation by the Governor in Council, if such a course would not conflict with the powers of Section VII.
In my opinion it is not necessary for the Surveyor General to inspect or report upon the houses
to be licensed.
21st January, 1874.
MINUTE BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR.
C. C. SMITH,
Registrar Genorul.
This is a horrible revelation, and I feel under obligation to the Colonial Surgeon for the pains he has taken in bringing the subject to notice.
Measures must be adopted to remedy the evils pointed out. bring before next Executive Council.
22nd January, 1874.
Send for the perusal of members and
A. E. KENNEDY.
MINUTE BY THE GENERAL OFFICER COMMANDING THE TROOPS.
In the first place I should cancel all licences to keep brothels. ments more necessary here than in any of the other British Colonies. exist except at Hongkong and Singapore.
I cannot think these establish-
I have never known them to
When sailors and others arrive at Hongkong, I know there are such places of resort; they imme- diately fly to them on landing, for a spree, when they get drunk and become riotous, and finish with a visit to the police office,
As to improving these houses in any way, it is impossible; they are so saturated with filth that they cannot be properly cleansed. The streets are so narrow and the houses so badly constructed and ventilated, that it would be impossible to make the present buildings healthy, or habitable except for Chinese.
I would therefore recommend that they are all knocked down and proper healthy houses built, after the streets have been levelled and widened; the longer they are allowed to remain in their present state the worse they will be.
I think that a certain number of comfortable, clean, well-ventilated houses might be built and let to the most respectable women of this class, and not rented by old women, who make a living by keeping girls for prostitution. The girls would then be induced to keep a clean, tidy place, or men would not care to visit them.
or
Pigs universally kept in the houses all over the town, the usual place for their reception being the kitchens, but they are by no means confined to that part of the house; if the droves are too large the kitchens too small, they are kept in the same rooms the inhabitants of the house occupy, and are as frequently to be found in upper stories as on the ground floors; a very favourite place for them is under the bed.
I have seen four of the usual divisions the Chinese make in one room, each division having a bed, and underneath each bed a pig-sty, containing from five to seven pigs, the occupant of the house having a Government Licence to keep pigs, and having no other place to keep them in. Attached to this report I send eight Licences, by the authority of which the occupants of the houses kept pigs under their beds, and two others where the pigs, though not kept under the beds, were in the same room the people slept and lived in. I could send many others.
This is an inacen- rate statulaert.
C. C. Smith Iegistrar Gen.
The construction of this class of houses is against every sanitary rule as regards drainage, ventila- tion and cleanliness, which is rendered impossible to the inhabitants, which you will easily under- stand by what I shall show you. Many houses, being built back to back, have no yards; having only windows in front, there is nothing to promote a current of air through them. In others which are not built back to back, no yard is provided, but a narrow gully exists between the backs of the two sets of houses, about a yard wide, not used for passengers, but down which an open sewer exists, in which foul and fetid matter lies in pools, or slowly trickles from one pool to another, a slight descent. assisting. The private drains existing are of the most complicated description, beginning in the kitchen of the house, and terminating goodness only knows where,-in but too many cases in the earth itself (with no outlet), through which the filth percolates till it finds the water level.
The upper floors of the houses are made with very thin boards, which, not lying close together, render it impossible to attempt to wash them, as that would result in giving the inhabitants of the rooms below a dirty shower bath. The ground floors are, for the most part, mud, though sometimes badly tiled or covered with stone; on this mud floor, every imaginable filth falls, from saliva to the pigs' urine draining from the pens, so that the earth is saturated with decomposing animal and vege- table matter of all descriptions, and the floor cannot be washed or cleaned.
I don't think the value of this sort of property is known, or the enormous prices for which these houses lot. Repairs cost little or nothing yearly. In nearly every room three or more families reside. up to as many as six or eight; the rooms being partitioned off, each partition pays a dollar and a half to two dollars a month rent, and a house with three rooms about fourteen feet square, with miserable little kitchens attached, will fetch from £55 to £70 a year; if it is a brothel, from £80 to £100 a year.
No. 130.
*SPECIMENS OF LICENCES ENCLOSED.
NOT TRANSFERABLE.
REGISTRAR GENERAL'S OFFICE, VICTORIA, HONUKONG, 5th January, 1872,
WONG A-FUNG is licensed to keep Three Pigs, on her Fremises No. 4, Cross Street, till further notice.
CECIL C. SMITO,
Registrar General.
26th January, 1874.
II. W. WHITFEILD,
No. 74.
Major General,
NOT TRANSFERABLE.
REGISTRAR GENERAL'S OFFICE, VICTORIA, HONGKONG, 8th September, 1874.
CECIL C. SMITH,
LI A-LAI is licensed to keep Four Pigs, (4) on her Premises No. 7, Hing Wan Lane, 15th June, 1875, till further notice.
No. 11.
REPORT OF THE COLONIAL SURGEON ON HIS INSPECTION OF THE TOWN OF VICTORIA, AND ON THE PIG LICENSING SYSTEM. HONGKONG, APRIL 1874.
COLONIAL SURGEON, DR. AYRES, TO HON. J. G. AUSTIN, COLONIAL SECRETARY.
HONGKONG, 15th April, 1874, SIR,I have the honour to forward to you a report on the result of my rounds with the Sanitary Iuspectors, for the information of His Excellency the Governor.
As I have already stated in my reports on the inspection of brothels, there are many things brought to notice there that are equally applicable to private houses, such as bad drainage, deficient ventilation, foul privies, filthy condition of houses, &c., &c.; but if I was astonished at the state of the brothels, they did not at all prepare me for what I was to find in private houses. As was the case with the brothels before I came, so it is with the back slums of the town; little or no superintendence has been thought of over the Inspectors. The Inspectors of Brothels, the Sanitary and Market In- spectors, have all been left pretty much to their own devices, as I have shown and shall show, nor does it seem to have come within the province of my predecessors to do this work.
No.
at
1. This licence is only issued for the number of Pigs stated on it.
2. If any more than that number are kept, all the Pigs will be confiscated.
3. If the Pig-styes are not kept clean, the holders of the License will he fined, and the Licence will be cancelled.
Registrar General.
4. If any Pigs are found in a house the owner of which has no Licence for keeping them, the Pigs will be confiscated, and the owner fined.
1. This License is only issned for the number of
NOT TRANSFERABLE.
REGISTRAR GENERAL'S OFFICE,
VICTORIA, HONGKONG,
187
is licensed to keep.
stated on it.
until further notice.
Registrar General.
2. If the Pig-styes, or other places where the animals are kept, are not clean, the holders of the Licence will be fined, and the Licence will be cancelled,
3. If any Pigs, or other arúmals injurious to the public health, are found in a house the owner of which has no Licence for keeping them. the animals will be confiscated, and the owner fined,
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