medical and sanitary services and had prepared new
legislation to deal with the position.
This had been
referred to a Committee on which the Sanitary Board was
represented.
Dr. O'Brien spoke of the quarantine difficulties
resulting from the huge floating population. Nearly
three million people enter and leave the Colony each year.
The death rate was 24 per mille, of which 38% were from
respiratory diseases. The housing conditions were very
bad. Malaria is prevalent in the suburban areas and on
the mainland but the City of Victoria is free. There
was a pandemic outbreak of cholera in Southern China
during the year and the people had been fortunate in that
the number of cases reported in the Colony was only 240.
No cases of human plague occurred. The only measure
against smallpox is vaccination and the Colony is in need
of further isolation accommodation.
The hospitals are
quite good but the system of dual treatment (either on
Western or Chinese lines) is still allowed in some of them.
The Committee thought that the report of the
Medical Department gave a good account of conditions in
the Colony and reflected credit on the work of
Dr. Wellington and his staff.
8
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