CO129-292 - Governor Sir Blake - 1899 [6-8] — Page 471

in

may arise any service, however well equipped during periods

(

of stress.

469

C. Insufficiency of latrine accommodation for the

Chinese population. This deficiency has been urged by myself

and by the Sanitary Board upon the attention of the Government

at frequent intervals during the past few years.

D. Overcrowding the Chinese population. This is a

matter for which further legislation is most urgently needed.

A comparison of the population of the Health districts with

the number of houses in such districts shows clearly that there

can be very little overcrowding in the dwellings of the Chinese

but as the Principal Medical Officer most truly points out the

overcrowding of the dwellings or surface-overcrowding

is a most grave element of danger to the Colony. The remedy for

this however is not, as he suggests, a large staff, but legis-

lation on the lines urged upon the local Government during the

past 25 years by every Sanitarian and Sanitary Committee that

has had occasion to report upon the condition of the Colony

namely the compulsory provision of open spaces in connection

with all domestic buildings, and the limitation of the height

of