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and begged that the measures adopted against the plague by the sanitary Authorities might be relaxed in the following respects (1) that the house to house visitation and search might be discontinued; (2) that those Chinese suffering from the plaque who wished might be allowed to return to China (3) that the pa tients on the "Hygeia" might be removed to the Native Hospital; and (4) that all sick persons should be sent to the native hospital. On none of these points did his Excellency the Governor meet the wishes of the Petitioners. The result was a general exodus of Chinese from Hong Kong especially of women and chil- dren, all Chinese who could afford to do so sending their families away. The reason was the house to nouse inspection which, however necessary from a sani- tary point of view they regarded as an invasion of their family privacy for it must be remembered that an Oriental although accustomed to a rule more or less personal and despotic is much more master within the walls of his own house than an Englishman, the Patria Protest as being above all legal rights and duties. Again the masses in China although prepared for the "squeezing of individuals in proportion to their wealth, resent above everything, fussy interference with what they consider their private affairs.
On the arrival in Canton of these refugees rumours and placards libelling foreigners generally
and the Hong Kong Doctors in particular became rife,
as that the doctors in Hong Kong were cutting open prog- nant women and were guilty of all sorts of abominations
R
all
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