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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
sion His Majesty's Naval vessels took action against the villages from which the pirates came, and it is sincerely to be hoped that this will have proved to be a salutary lesson. In the existing state of lawlessness adequate Naval patrols are of the greatest value in affording protec- tion to trading vessels; and if action can be taken against the haunts of the pirates after a piracy has taken place we believe that there will be a great diminution of their outrages.
Malaria has long been a serious problem in the Colony, and we welcome the appointment of a specially trained malarial research officer whose duty it will be to investigate local conditions and advise as to the steps to be taken to deal with the disease. The Hon. Mr. Shenton will make further reference to this subject in his speech, but I may say here that we hope the appointment marks the beginning of an organised effort to eradicate malaria entirely from this Colony where it still takes such heavy toll every year.
The Government's intention to admit men as well as women to the Victoria Hospital has our cordial approval, as we consider this an economical arrangement which might well have been made long ago. Your Excellency will, we hope, carefully consider our suggestion that patients be granted the right of being treated by their own doctors if they so desire. Although that suggestion when first made did not receive official approval, we feel constrained to point out once more that its adoption, besides bringing increased revenue to the Govern- ment through more patients being encouraged to use the hospital, will give greater satisfaction to the public, with whose money it was that the hospital was built in celebration of Her Majesty Queen Victoria's jubilee.
The increased use being made of the services of locally trained probationer nurses is welcome, for not only are those nurses doing very useful work, but they will in time be the means of spreading a knowledge of Western medicine and hygiene throughout South China.
In connection with the Estimate of the Public Works Department we should like to refer to the scheme for a vehicular ferry. We hope that the matter will not be lost sight of, and we await with interest the report we understand the Government will publish when the matter has been fully considered.
Another important public work which has had to stand over is increased water supply. We note that a sessional paper will shortly be issued on the proposed Aberdeen Reservoir. If this was the one referred to during the Budget debate nearly a year ago as having an estimated capacity of 200 million gallons, we cannot think that this will do much towards meeting the growing needs of the island as it would increase our storage capacity by less than 10 per cent. At that debate your Excellency stated that you hoped before long to lay on the table of this Council “ a sessional paper giving very full information on every aspect of our water supply problem, and furnishing all the data
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