CO129-294 - Governor Sir Blake - 1899 [10-12] — Page 520

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1896, and the result of its exhaustive labours is to be found within the cover of a blue- book comprising some 200 pages of closely. printed foolscap. While recommending a series of improvements in the internal affairs of the Hospital, the majority of the Commissioners conclude by saying that it has done excellent work in the past, and that, if the improvements they bave recommended are adopted, it will be able in the future to continas its good with stil! greater efficiency and with increased benefits to he indigeat suffering Chinese, for whose wel- are the Hospital was established."

THOSE TO WHOM CREDIT IS DUE, The Chinese characteristic tenacity alluded to by Your Excellency has in a large measure bend overcome to the extent of the adoption of those reforms categorically stated in the reports of our genial Visiting Surgeon (Dr. Thomson) for the years 1897 and 1898, to whom and whose able and enlightened secouder Dr. Chang, the resident surgeon, is due the credit i of sa gratifying and conspicuous & success. A word of praise, too, should be given the Chinese medical practitioners for the harmony with which they have carried on their own good work. Associated with the progress and saccess of the hospital must be mentioned also the uame of our Registrar-General, the Hon. J. H. Stewart Lookhert, C.M.G., whose intimate an. quaintance and sympathy with the Chinese and the special knowledge he possesses of their useda have been most helpful in securing those reforms which we can boast of to day. (Applause)

A DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW BUILDING. I have touched on the question of the socom- modation of our new building. It is only fitting that a description of its plan should be available to those subscribers who have been uuable to be present here to-day to examine the plan which is exhibited here this afternoon. The entrance will be from Po Yan Street, leading into a Central Hall. a Chinese architectural charao- teristic, 25' by 23. There will be the indispen- sable verandah on all four sides of the build- ing, and so it is that the effect of the Central Hall will appear to advantage. The Super- intendent's office and receiving room will face each other on the left and right of the entrance respectively In addition to a large ward to accommodate 18 beds on the ground floor there will be the attendants' room, lavatory, and clothes store, besides kitchen, all arranged in a more satisfactory manner than now exists in the old hospital. The first floor is laid out to take in a general ward identical with that ou the floor below. And, as I have already men- tioned, there will be the special feature of an "perating room with top-lights. There will also be four small wards which may be used for midwifery cases or for the greater comfort of that class of patients who would prefer to pay for better accommodation. Lavatory, attend. ants' room, and all the other necessary conveni- ences will go to make up the plan of this floor, which has verandahs overlooking Po Yan, Station, and Market Streets. When the build- ings bas thus beau described, I think it will bo generally admitted that the Directors, with the cordial co-operation of Drs. Atkin sou, Lowson, and Thomson, from whom they received valuable suggestions, have given much careful thought to providing a well- plaaned building with light and reutilation for the suffering bumanity that will be housed in it. Snmmarizing, therefore, the history of the Tung Wa, we find in it the first establish- ment of a permaneut institution by the Chinese for the treatment of the sick, I have good reason to believe that it is not only the first hospital of its kind in Hongkong, but also throughout China. It owes its existence to, and is dependent for its enlargement upon, the benevolent spirit of Chinese merchants and compardores-the originators of the scheme generously aided by all other sections of the community and the helpful influence of a Government ready to do the greatest good to the greatest number. The Tung Wa Hospital shows that the Chinese mind is not ceptible of good influence, and lot us hope that it will long continus in its career of useful- ness and so merit the good-will which it has earned from a well-disposed community. Let us trust also that its example will bear good

NASUS-

fruit

fruit in the more remote parts of China, prзn- cipally in the adoption of a scientific treatment of such cases as medical skill can cure. And in saying this I look hopefully to the success of our maternity ward for reducing the presently large infantile mortality among the Chinese in Hongkong. It remains for me now to ask Your Excellency to lay the foundation stone of this building, which, when ready, will add to the numerous benevolent institutions of this progressive and unique Colony over the destinies of which Your Excellency now presides, and, as spokesman of the Directorate, to cordially thank Your Excellency for the honour you have been pleased to confer upon us by taking part in this afternoon's ceremony, and to express our sin- cere appreciation of tho consideration which Your Excellency has invariably shewn to the Chinese population of this Colony. (Applause.)

HIS EXCELLENCY LAYS THE STONE, His EXCELLENCY then formally laid thestone, finishing the spreading of the morter in a work man-like manuer and afterwards tapping the stone with the mallet and declaring it well and truly laid. On the trowel, which was of silver, was the following inscription:" Presented to Sir Henry Authur Blake, G.C.M.G., by the directors of the Tung Wa Hospital, Hongkong, in commemoration of the laying of the founda- tion stone of the extension of the Hospital 25th November, 1899," The inscription was also in Chinese.

HIS EXCELLENCY'S ADDRESS. His EXCELLENCY said-Mr. Ho Tung, I have listened with attention and very great satis- faction to your most interesting address, and I assure you that the laying of this found- ation stone is for me a most pleasant duty, for this valuable addition to the excellent charity is not alone an evidence of the generous bene volence of the Chinese, but affords a proof that charity and brotherly love is not in Hongkong bounded by race or creed, for as you have shewn in your address all classes and creeds have come forward and assisted in this good work. (Ap- plause.) I congratulate the gentlemen who especially interested themselves in the collection upon the splendid success of their labours in obtaining so large a sum as $80,000 within three mouths. The increased accommodation for female patients was urgently required and with the removal of the Kaifong wards the Tung Wa hospital will take its place as an institution suitable in every respect for the purpose for which it was intended. (Applause). In my opinion this land grauted by the Crown will be amply paid for by the benefits conferred by this building apoa our Chinese fellow subjects.

WESTERN AND CHINESE SYSTEMS

OF MEDICINE.

I have watched from time to time the re- turn of the hospital cases hoping to find that the death rate of patients treated un- der the Chinese system would approach more nearly the rate of mortality of those treated under the Western systeni of medicine. It must be remembered that there are no spacial wards. Those patients are side by side, ander identical conditions, in the same ward. Yet we find that the death rate of those who elect to be treated by the Enropean system of medicine is not one-half that of the patients who desire to be treated by Chinese methods. I am glad to hear from you that the were successful Western methods aro gradually gaining ground. That an operating roon should find a place in a Chi- nese hospital is the most conclusive evidence that ancient prejudices are beginning to yield before the light of modern science-applause) and it is gratifying to me, as it is interesting, to hear that the first Chinese hospital of this kind has been established by the Chinase them- selves in a British Colony. To the teus of thousands of Chinese workmen who come to Hongkong it must show that under British rule is to be found the stimulus and the encourage. ment for those charitable institutious that are among the most beneficent evidences of ad- vanced civilization. I would that this proof of Chinese humanitarianism and loving help to those in trouble and sickness when their nat- ural feelings are allowed free play could in- Bluence those in high places in China to put away the inhuman tortures that are daily practised in their courts, that degrade the population and disgrace humanity. I bud by the returns that in three months the Tung Wa

Hospital