CO129-309 - Public Offices & Others - 1901 — Page 248

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with these matters. it was deemed advisable to enlarge the Sanitary

placing

A

Board by a čertain number of inofficial members on it, two of whom

were to be elected and thus give the Board somewhat of a popular

character.

In further proof that the measure was only a tentative one

and that the Government were unwilling to confer any great powers

on the Board, although their functions were extensive, I would

remark that no revenue or source of revenue was granted to the

Board. The provisions of the Bill were greatly determined by the

fact that it was drafted by Mr. Price, who was then Surveyor

General, a very able officer, and who had taken up with enthusiasm the sanitation of the Colony and no doubt he looked forward to be for many years the ruling spirit of the Board and to be entrusted

with carrying into execution this new legislation

and he drafted

it according to what he thought he would be able to do.

The success of the measure depended greatly on his

continuing

for several years at the head of the Board; unfortunately, Mr. Price left the service to or three years after the institution of the

Board.

It really had no It cannot be said to have been a success. power since it had no funds and it was not a sufficiently influential or powerful body to secure at the hands of the government, the keepers

Nor plans or proposals. of the purse, the acceptance of its

*

do I think it possessed sufficient expert knowledge to deal satis- factorily with such a difficult and complex question as the sanitation of Hong Kong. But the greatest fault which I find against it -

is that

its members were all of them busy men, who could afford

A further reason why I little time for the work of the Board.

now address you is that the composition of the Sanitary Board was

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