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Extract from "The Hongkong Telegraph" of the 6th. »June.
PONG WA PLAGUE HOSPITAL OPENING CEREMONY.
No institution has ever been opened at a more opportune moment, or when it was more necessary for the benefit of the public, observed H.E. the Governor when declaring the plague branch of the Tung Wa Hospital to be opened. The ceremony was performed at Kennedy Town this morning in the presence of a good gathering of Europeans and representative Chinese, including, in addition to Sir Henry Blake, G.C.M.G., Capt. J. B. Arbuthnot, aide-de-camp, the Mon. F. N. May, C.M.G, the Hon. Dr. J. M. Atkinson, Dr. J. C. Thomson, Messrs. C. Mcl. Messer, A. Rumjahu, B. Brotherton Harker, Fung Wa Chun, Lau Chu Pak, Tung Lan Kuk, Pun Chi Wan, Liu Ting, Tung Pan Sang, Yeung Wan Kn, Yeung Pui San, Chan Chih Wan, and about twenty others. The site of the new building adjoins the Government Infections Diseases Hospital and is to be devoted entirely to the reception of Chinese patients, who hitherto have for the most part been housed in masheds during epidemics. It is pleasantly situated many feet above the waters of the Harbour and faces Green Island and the mountainous district around Cap-sui-mun. Mr. B. Brotherton Harker, of Queen's Road Central, is the architect and has prepared the whole of the plans.
The new hospital is built in the Renaissance style of architecture, erected in red brick and presents a very imposing appearance. The main entrance opening into the reception hall leads to the three ward pavilions constituting the main part of the hospital. The two ad- ministrative blocks containing offices, doctors' |rooms, dispensaries and stores are on the ground floor, and the nurses' dormitories are situated on an upper flat. In each of the six wards it is proposed to place twenty beds, thus giving accommodation for sixty patients. In addition there is a convalescent ward for an- other seven beds. At the back of the main building is the mortuary which is con. nec ed with the hospital by a covered way. The servants' quarters, cook houses, wash and disinfecting houses are on the same side. The interior of the buildings is executed in modern style, and plastered with Keene's cement. Ventilation, lighting and sanitary arrangements are of the most approved kind, and present-day requirements are met by the structural separation of the lavatories from the wards, as well as in many other minor respects. The memorial stone is placed at the north-west corner of the building in one of the administra- tion blocks and in a cavity in its centre is placed a sealed glass jar containing a copy of a Hongkong paper and coins of the year 1901 comprising a dollar, and so cent, zo cent, 10 cent, 5 cent, a ore cent pieces. On the stone is the following inscription :-"This stone was laid by Sir Henry Arthur Blake, G.C.M.G., Governor of the Colony of Hongkong, 18th November, 1901"
The formal opening ceremony took place in the reception hall, and when His Excellency and guests had been seated,
Mr. Lau Chu Pak said:--Your Excellency
is the name and on behalf of the directors of
1903.
Reca
he Tung Wa Hospital, I have great pleasu n sequearing you to declare open this plage hos ital, which is to be conducted as a branch f the existing Tung Wa Hospital It is with special satisfaction that I da das in view of the circumstance that it was your Exceli- cy who laid the foundation store of this building on 18th November, 1901, which was designed by Mr. Harker, and also l'ustrated in the deademy Architecture, vol 21. has, for a period of many years bees the ambition of the hinese community to possess a building such a this where Chinese cases of inferiou dise se mar be treated by Chinese physic ans. During previous epidemics, temporary hospitals have been in use for this purpose, i ut it has, through- ! out, been looked forward to, that a permanent Chinese Infectious Disca es Hospi al would be i erected. Accordingly, after your Excellency's arrival in the Colony, these proposals were submitted to you and your hearty sympathy with the sheme has secured the fulfilment of these desi e and aspirations. The funds for the erection and the equipment of the stitu tion have been subscribed by the Chi ese and European communite, and I have no doub! that the amount necessary for its maintenance, year by year, will be as willingly subscr' ed. It is proposed as i have alread indicated, that this institution shall be carried on sa branch and extension of the existing Tung Wa Hos- pital and on precisely similar lines, all the patients admited being given the option of trea ment by Chinese or Western methods. As is unfortunately too apparent, the buildings here are not quite complete, but your Excel- lency has been good enou, h to consent to a proposal that for the time being, the kitchen, laundry and mortuary of the Government Hos- pital, adjoining this may be used conjointly by the two institutions, and thus these buildings may take their share in meeting the present emie-gency created by the prevalence of plague in the Culony. Before another eoniersic season comes I hope hat the whole of our proposals for this Hospital may be rounded off and com- plet d. The urgency of the present situation bas made it impossible for the Directors to arrange as they should have liked to for the opening ceremony. I must, therefore, ask your Excellency to use a very o dinary won key to open the hospital. The Directors will later on forward to you as a memento of this interest- ing occasion the key which ought to have been ready for your Excellency's use to-day, With these few words, your Excellency, I have much pleasure, in the name of and on behalf of the Tung Wa Hospital, to request you to declare this building open. (Applause.)
HE
the Governor said he came there very readily and with great pleasure to assist in the opening of that most necessary addition to the Tung Wa Hospital. It was not one day too soon for the ceremony to take place as he had been round the adjoining hospital and found each of the wards was fully occupied, and he earnestly hoped that those wards might only be necessary for the purpose of relieving what was undoubtedly at present a congestion in the other hospital and that the numbers in the two hospitals might not be increased in the immediate future. As some of them were aware, assisted by Mr. Fung Wa Chun and other gentlemen, and heartily assisted by
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