CO129-348 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1908 [7-10] — Page 199

OPY.

(

C.O.

32679

Reg 7 SEP 08

Enclosure 1.

Reco

Head, Sanitary Department,

To find an answer to the question is there

196

anything to account for the increased number of plague cases in,

1908, it must first be decided whether there has been a real

or only apparent increase compared with former years.

The cases recorded since 1895 are as

follows:-

1895.

.44 cases.

1896

.1,204

H

1897

21

"

1898.

.1,320

#

1899

.1,

486

#

1900.

.1,

087

#

1901..

.1,651

#

1902...

572

11

1903.

•1,415

1904.

510

#

1905

304

1

1906

893 11

1907

240

1908

942

#

to end of June.

That there has been an actual increase over the cases in 1902,

1904, 1905, and 1907 cannot be doubted.

That there has been an increase over the

cases in 1906 is probably not real.

Up to the end of June, 1906, there had been

842 cases,

but of these 218 only were reported alive and 624 dead, while in 1908, 392 were reported alive and 550 dead. This means that 15.7 per cent more cases were reported alive in 1908 than in 1906, and points to the conclusion that more people have remained in Hongkong when attacked than in 1906.

Although no definite figures can be obtained showing how many plague cases have left for Canton etc.,

in the early

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