CO129-303 - Public Offices & Others - 1900 — Page 380

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It is no doubt true that Article 6 of the

Hong Kong Regulations is justifiable in view of Section viii, chap. ii of the Venice Convention, which deals with, "Measures to be taken in Europe". But in my comment

on these Regulations I had in mind chap. i, "Measures to

be taken out of Europe", and especially that section of chap. i, concerning "Measures to be taken in the Red Sea"

which the Foreign Office has, as I understand, held to

be the basis upon which the Regulations of Dependencies

of Great Britain outside Europe may most conveniently

rest.

For it was formally announced at the Venice Convention of 1897 that so far as England is concerned

the "Observation" of Section VIII would signify

"Surveillance" only; that we should not subject healthy

persons brought by infected vessels to any sort of

quarantine detention. In so far therefore as any

requirement of the Hong Kong Regulations permits detention on ship board or on shore of healthy passengers

it is, I think, to be deprecated. Thus, in my judgment,

the Red Sea Regulations are in this connexion to be preferred, inasmuch as under them the period of detention of individuals not only cannot (as in Europe) exceed 10 days but must in many cases be necessarily less;

and

in this sense some such clause as No. 9 of the East Africa Regulations would, it seemed to me, meet the case.