Enclosure 2.
319
The state of affairs in Hongkong with regard to Quarantine Regulations is totally different from that which exists in the United Kingdom: for,
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"The Committee would suggest that a Lazaretto of a permanent character, for the reception of patients infected with Cholera, should be erected on the Quaran- tine Ground on Stone-Cutters' Island. The Committee is aware of the advantages to be derived from lodging the patients in temporary structures, which can be burnt immediately they are free of patients, in order more effectually to destroy all sources of infection, but they recognize, in view of the destructive effects of the typhoons to which the Colony is liable during the summer months, the advantage of at least possessing a certain amount of permanent accommodation for the reception of patients in case of emergency."
The construction of the above, as well as the erection of commodious matsheds, the Committee recommends as urgent necessities; and the Committee unable to understand why the carrying out of these objects should be delayed, having regard to the absence any such accommodation in the Colony, and considering the strenuous recommendations that have been made with a view to obtaining the completion of the necessary buildings.
I have the honour to be,
Sir.
Your most obedient Servant.
Minute by the Acting Colonial Secretary, (Hon. F. STEWART.)
Statement of reasons for the adoption of the existing Quarantine Regulations.
No. 1191.
SIR,
(Signed),
P. RYRIE, Vice-ChairmØN.
COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE,
HONGKONG, 28th August, 1885.
I am directed by His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 25th instant on the subject of Quarantine Regulations, and in reply I am to convey to you the following resolution of the Executive Council in the matter :-
"The Council advise that the Vice-Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce be informed that the Executive Council has carefully considered his letter, and that it sees no reason to alter its previous decision."
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
FREDERICK STEWART, Acting Colonial Secretary.
(Signed),
The Honourable P. RYBIE,
Vice-Chairman,
Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce.
(1.) The work of sanitation is here only beginning. The drainage of the city is still very defective, and some years must elapse before Mr. CHADWICK'S scheme, approved by the Imperial Go- vernment, can be fully carried into effect.
(2.) In the event of an epidemic of cholera, the overwhelming Chinese population of some 160,000 to some 7,000 of other races, could have no proper medical treatment; Chinese practitioners know- ing nothing of the disease, or of the method of treating it.
(3.) In consequence of the overcrowded and insanitary state of the native quarters of the city, a severe epidemic might decimate the population. (4.) To carry out here the system of deten- tion and examination which has been adopted in England, would require two additional Medical Officers for the Har- bour and three for the villages of Shau- kiwán, Stanley, and Aberdeen. This, with the necessary number of steam- launches, crews, additions to the Har- bour Master's Staff, &c., would involve the Colony in very great expense, even if it were possible, (which it is not) to secure a sufficient number of qualified European Medical Officers.
2. The Executive Council and the Sanitary Board had also under consideration the opinions of the Principal Naval and Military Medical Officers on this Station. The latter (Dr. HUNGER- FORD,) stated that, if a really efficient Quarantine could be established it would be desirable. Dr. HUNGERFORD also pointed out that the circum- stances favouring the introduction of cholera into this Colony are very different from those existing in England, where the machinery for instituting sanitary precautions is more perfect, and be more effectually applied. The former (Dr. FISHER,) stated that, taking into account the difference in temperature between this tropical Colony and England, together with other con- siderations, he was of opinion that strict Quaran- tine Regulations should be enforced here.
Can
3. Such considerations as the foregoing could not fail to have their due weight with the Executive Council; more especially as the Cham- ber of Commerce, which advocated the immediate introduction of the system now in force in
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