663
8
21-The Sanitary Board in 1898 recommended the erection of a Crematorium for incinerating carcases of diseased cattle which die at the depôts instead of burying them as at present. It is found that these diseased carcases after burial are frequently disinterred by coolies and used as food. Nothing has yet been done in this matter.
22.-The Sanitary Board in 1898 strongly urged a reduction in the Height of Buildings and the Board has repeatedly recommended such reduction since. It is absolutely impossible for districts to be healthy where streets are only a few feet wide with five-storey buildings on either side. Nothing has been done in the direction indicated.
23.—One of the greatest evils the Colony suffers from is Surface Crowding. Dr. Francis Clark, the Medical Officer of Health, dealt fully with this question at a meeting of the Sanitary Board on June 1st, 1899. He then said:
This "surface crowding" is a matter which has been brought to the attention of the Government at intervals during the past 25 years. In 1874 the late Colonial Surgeon, Dr. Ayres, directed attention to the matter; in 1889 and again in 1890 Mr. Osbert Chadwick spoke most forcibly, in his Reports on the sanitary condition of this colony, of this very matter. In 1889 Sir William Des Vœux reported to the Secretary of State for the Colonies that one of the principal objects of the Praya Reclamation scheme was "to afford some opening for relief from the present overcrowding of the population,” but unhappily this object has not been attained to any great extent, for almost the whole of the Reclamation bids fair to be occupied by large godowns and blocks of offices. In 1894 both the Permanent Committee of the Sanitary Board and the "Committee on the Housing of the Chinese" directed attention to the amount of surface crowding which existed in this city, while in my Annual Reports I have reiterated their statements and endeavoured to show by statistics that the surface crowding here is greater by far than in the most densely populated metropolitan districts of the City of London. Again, the Unsanitary Properties Commission appointed in 1897 dealt largely with this matter and recommended further legislation—hopelessly inadequate I admit—on the subject. The Sanitary Board, at the request of the Government, deliberated upon the Report of this Commission and submitted a report of its own, dated June 9th, 1898, dealing fully with the various points raised by the evidence taken before the Commission and making a number of suggestions which, if adopted, would unquestionably tend largely to abate this surface-crowding. As a result of all this, a Bill was read for the first time in the Legislative Council on the 22nd day of November, 1898, but this Bill has not yet become law.
This Bill in an emasculated form eventually became law (Ordinance 34 of 1899) the more drastic remedies recommended by the Sanitary Board with a view to the betterment of the Sanitary Condition of the Colony having been deleted therefrom.
The Medical Officer of Health, in his Annual Report for 1900, again referred to Surface Crowding as follows:
Nos. 5 and 6 Health District, which are situated in the centre of the city, show acute surface crowding, while Districts 9, 4, 8, and 7 are almost as densely crowded. Owing to the conformation of the island, the only possible remedy for this acute congestion is the provision of more ready means of access to the outlying districts of the city, and it is to be hoped that the Government will see their way, at no distant date, to provide, or to encourage the provision of
9
tramways to East Point and the Shaukiwan Road with nominal fares for workmen, thus offering an inducement to the Chinese to reside in these suburbs.
The density of population of the City of Victoria as a whole, that is to say, including all the outlying vacant lands and the villages in No. 1 Health District, the Public Gardens in No. 3 Health District, and all the unoccupied hill-side below the upper limit of the City Health Districts (i.e. about 450 feet above high-water mark) is 126 persons per acre. In 1898 the average density of population in the administrative County of London was 60 persons per acre, while in Glasgow it was 61, in Liverpool 50, and in Edinburgh 47 persons per acre—Glasgow being the most densely crowded of the thirty-six large towns of the United Kingdom.
24.—In November 1900, the Sanitary Board recommended the Limewashing of the houses of the rural villages, to ensure cleanliness and thereby act as a precautionary measure against Plague. The proposed bye-law was, however, unanimously rejected by the Legislative Council. Sixteen cases of plague have occurred during the present epidemic amongst the limited population of three of these villages.
25.—One lamentable result of the long continued insanitary condition of Hong-kong was the outbreak of Bubonic Plague in 1894. The prediction of the late Dr. Ayres, made in 1873, and reiterated by him since, was fulfilled, twenty-one years later, and the disease has never been eradicated, and may not disappear until the most drastic sanitary reforms are effected. Mr. Chadwick likewise foretold a severe epidemic if the sanitation of the Colony was not improved, and his prophecy, so long unheeded by the Government, has come to pass. Since 1894, when most heroic efforts were made by members of the community to stamp out the disease, there have been up to the present nine thousand reported cases of Bubonic Plague with a mortality averaging from 89 to 96 per cent. It is believed on adequate grounds that the number of cases and deaths has been far in excess of these numbers. There is good reason to believe that had due heed been given to the warnings offered these epidemics might not have occurred. The daily medical returns show that the epidemic is increasing in its ravages and residents are confronted with the fact that the practical immunity which the Europeans appeared to possess from plague has passed away. The Government might not have been able to prevent the annual re-appearance of the disease, but your Petitioners believe, on good medical authority, that the recurring epidemics would have lessened in virulence and duration had the Government seriously applied itself to this very responsible task and not trifled with proposed measures of Sanitary Reform. In his very able report on the Plague Epidemic of 1894, Dr. James A. Lowson, Medical Officer in charge of the Epidemic Hospital and Acting Superintendent of Government Civil Hospital and Lunatic Asylum, said:
1)
It is
"satisfactory to know that attempts are being made by those in authority to remedy faults which have been accumulating for years, and which have been "pointed out but without result." Since 1894, with the exception of manfully fighting the epidemic as it annually occurred, with a grievously undermanned Medical and Nursing Staff, practically nothing has been done on the lines of
663
8
21-The Sanitary Board in 1898 recommended the erection of n Crematorium for incinerating carcases of diseased cattle which die at the depôts instend of burying them as at present. It is found that these diseased carcases after burial are frequently disinterred by coolies and used as food. Nothing has yet been done in this matter.
22.-The Sanitary Board in 1898 strongly urged a reduction in the Height of Buildings and the Board has repeatedly recommended such reduction since. It is absolutely impossible for districts to be healthy where strects are only a few feet wide with five-storey buildings on either side. Nothing has been done in the direction indicated.
23.—One of the greatest evils the Colony suffers from is Surface Crowding. Dr. Francis Clark, the Medical Officer of Health, dealt fully with this question at a meeting of the Sanitary Board on June 1st, 1899. He then said :---
This "surface crowding" is a matter which has been brought to the attention of the Government at intervals during the past 25 years. In 1874 the late Colonial Surgeon, Dr. Ayres, directed attention to the matter; in 1889 and again in 1890 Mr. Osbert Chadwick spoke most forcibly, in his Reports on the sanitary condition of this colony, of this very matter. In 1889 Sir William Des Vœux reported to the Secretary of State for the Colonies that one of the principal objects of the Praya Reclamation scheme was "to afford su opening for relief from the present overcrowding of the population,” but unhappily this object has not been attained to any great extent, for almost the whole of the Reclamation bids fair to be occupied by large godowns and blocks of offices. In 1894 both the Permanent Committee of the Sanitary Board and the "Committee on the Housing of the Chinese" directed attention to the amount of surface crowding which existed in this city, while in my Annual Reports I have reiterated their statements and endeavoured to show by statistics that the surface crowding here is greater by far than in the most densely populated metropolitan districts of the City of London. Again, the Losanitary Properties Commission appointed in 1897 dealt largely with this matter and recommended further legistation-hopelessly inadequate I admit-- on the subject. The Sanitary Board, at the request of the Government, deliberatel upon the Report of this Commission and submitted a report of its own, dated June 9th, 1898, dealing fully with the various points raised by the evidence taken before the Commission and making a number of suggestions which, if adopted, would unquestionably tend largely to abate this surface- crowding. As a result of all this, a Bill was read for the first time in the Legislative Council on the 22nd day of November, 1898, but this Bill has not yet become law.
This Bill in an emasculated form eventually became law (Ordinance 34 of 1899) the more drastic remedies recommended by the Sanitary Board with a view to the betterment of the Sanitary Condition of the Colony having been deleted therefrom.
The Medical Officer of Health, in his Annual Report for 1900, again referred to Surface Crowding as follows
Nos. 5 and 6 Health District, which are situated in the centre of the city, show acute surface crowding, while Districts 9, 4, 8, and 7 are almost as densely crowded. Owing to the conformation of the island, the only possible remedy for this acute congestion is the provision of more ready means of access to the outlying districts of the city, and it is to be hoped that the Government will see their way, at no distant date, to provide, or to encourage the provision of
9 --
tramways to East Point and the Shaukivan Road with nominal fares for work- men, thus offering an inducement to the Chinese to reside in these suburbs.
The density of population of the City of Victoria as a whole, that is to say, including all the outlying vacant lands and the villages in No. 1 Health District, the Public Gardens in No. 3 Health District, and all the unoccupied hill-side below the upper limit of the City Health Districts (Le about 450 feet above high-water mark) is 126 persons per nere. In 1898 the average density of population in the administrative County of London was 60 persons per acre, while in Glasgow it was 61, in Liverpool 50, and in Edinburgh 47 persons per acre- Clasgow being the most densely crowded of the thirty-six large towns of the United Kingdom.
24.--In November 1900, the Sanitary Board recommended the Limewashing of the honses of the rural villages, to ensure cleanliness and thereby act as a precau- tiquary measure against Plagne. The proposed bye-law was, however, unanimously rejected by the Legislative Council. Sixteen cases of plague have occurred during the present epidemic amongst the limited population of three of these village. 25.---One lamentable result of the long continued insanitary condition of Hong- kong was the outbreak of Bubonic Plague in 1894. The prediction of the late Dr. Ayres, made in 1873, and reiterated by him since, was fulfilled, twenty-one years later, and the disease has never been eradicated, and may not disappear until the most drastic sanitary reforms are effected. Mr. Chadwick likewise foretold a severe epidemic if the sanitation of the Colony was not improved, and his prophesy, so long unheeded by the Government, has come to pass. Since 1894, when most heroic efforts were made by members of the community to stamp out the disease, there have been up to the present nine thousand reported cases of Bubonic Plague with a mortality averaging from 89 to 96 per cent. It is believed on adequate grounds that the number of cases and deaths has been for in excess of these numbers. There is good reason to believe that had due heed been given to the warnings offered these epidemics might not have occurred. The daily medical returns show that the epidemic is increasing in its ravages and residents are confronted with the fact that the practical immunity which the Europeans appeared to possess from plague bas passed away. The Government might not have been able to prevent the annual re- appearance of the disease, but your Petitioners believe, on good medical authority, that the recurring epidemics would have lessened in virulence and duration had the Government seriously applied itself to this very responsible task and not trifled with proposed measures of Sanitary Reform. In his very able report on the Plague Epidemic of 1894, Dr. James A. Lowson, Medical Officer in charge of the Epidemic Hospital and Acting Superintendent of Government Civil Hospital and Lunatic Asylum, said If proper sanitary precautions are taken, no civilised country should ever be the seat of an epidemic of plague. I am bound to "admit that if ever any place was ripe for such an epidemic, certain parts of "Hongkong in May 1894 were.
1)
It is
"satisfactory to know that attempts are being made by those in authority to remedy faults which have been accumulating for years, and which have been "pointed out but without result.' Since 1894, with the exception of manfully fighting the epidemic as it annually occurred, with a grievously undermanned Medical and Nursing Staff, practically nothing has been done on the lines of
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