CO129-347 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1908 [4-6] — Page 344

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Quarantine Station and Segregation Camp at Lai-chi-kok.

Since, however, funds were at that

time urgently required for other purposes, the money was

not spent and the scheme was allowed to remain in abeyance.

3.

The want of a Quarantine Station

was emphasised last October when a Steamer arrived from

Singapore with 1,236 Chinese passengers and reported 12

deaths from Cholera during the voyage, and 7 living cases

which were at once transferred to the Infectious Hospital

Hulk "Hygeia".

For the segregation and observa-

-tion of the remaining passengers the expedient, in vogue

here in the absence of a Quarantine Station, of hiring

large Cargo Boats (Chinese Lighters) was adopted. To these

39 more cases of Cholera were removed during the first 3

days after the vessel's arrival, and other cases continued

to be removed for some days afterwards.

The use of Cargo Boats - fortunate-

-ly rare owing to the infrequent occurrence of the necessity

to segregate large numbers is, in my view, extremely

objectionable because inspection of the occupants is

difficult, protection from the weather should it prove cold

or wet is hardly satisfactory, and in the typhoon season

there