- 7
59
with the outbreaks of cholera, small-
pox and cerebro-spinal meningitis
which have afflicted the Colony in the past few years-aggravated by the very overcrowded condition of the town and the lowered standard of living following upon the refugee influx.
staff
To combat these conditions and material are, of course, essential and cost money.
Would the Honourable Member advocate the reduction in the meagre staff of Health Officers responsible for preventing disease?
Is it the view of the Honourable Member that there should be less accommodation for dangerous infec- tious illness, or for victims of the tuberculosis scourge?
Now, if we take 1936 as a normal year in so far as concerns medical expenditure, since this period pre- ceded the outbreak of hostilities, we find that the approved expenditure was $1,651,378.
Medical Budget
The mid-year population in 1936 was 985,345. The per capita ex- penditure thus amounted to $1.67 per annum-a little over 2/1d. The Medical Budget for 1940/1941 now submitted to this Council
for ap- proval makes provision for the sum of $3,635,709 for the period of 15 months. This is the equivalent of $2,908,568 for a period of 12 months. On a conservative basis, the mid- year population for 1939 amounted to one and three quarters millions. I use the word "conservative" ad- visedly, because expert statisticians have expressed the view that the population calculated at June, 1939, was than within ten per centum of the two million mark.
to
If we assume that the population at mid-year 1940 will not vary any appreciable extent from that for the current year, then the per capita expenditure for next year will be in the neighbourhood of $1.68 per an- num-one cent less per head than in 1936.
As regards increase in the staff of the Medical Department, in 1936 there were 56 doctors and 277 nurses. The figures in the 1940-41 budget show 79 doctors and 355 nurses. This increase may appear big at first sight. That is not the case; firstly, because the original cadre was in- adequate four years ago; and, second- ly, because, whereas the population has practically doubled in the in- tervening period, the increase in doctors is approximate %th and in nurses considerably less than a third. This relatively small increase of staff has had to cope with over a thousand additional hospital beds as well as with new clinics and dispensaries.
mind Bearing in
mass of poverty-stricken and suffering per- sons in Hongkong does the Honour-
Member really able
advocate a smaller number of doctors and nurses?
the
Hongkong's Growth
I am aware that it is believed in some quarters that the present popu- lation is likely to diminish very con- peaceful conditions .siderably once
obtain in China. There are, how- in Council to- ever, many present day, who, I think, would not deny the fact that Hongkong has grown, as it were, by leaps and bounds, and that many of those who have sought asylum from disturbed conditions in China at intervals during the past so have, in fact, re- 20 years or mained as permanent residents.
trust that enough has been said in this inadequate survey of the position to convince my Honourable friend Mr. Pearce that there is no real justification for his alarm at the
moderate very
increase in the Medical Budget. His alarm was not, I am most thankful to say, shared by the other unofficial mem- bers when they considered the provi- sion in Select Committee.
I do not think that it would be: Your Excellency's wish that I should take up the time of this Council by commenting upon the phrase "for- which midable highly-paid staff" occurred in my Honourable friend's speech. The question of salaries is one affecting the Service as a whole and it would be difficult to produce evidence that the staff of the Medical Department was, in fact, "formidable" in the face of its responsibilities or that the salaries were "high."
Street Cleansing
Knowing the Honourable Mr. Pearce's humanitarian outlook, 1 think that I should not be far wrong in assuming that he would be pre- pared to answer the questions which I have taken the liberty of putting to him with an emphatic negative. Yet it is these very services that account for so much of the expenditure of the Medical Department which it is our duty to develop for the well- being of the community for whom we are responsible.
Turning to the Honourable Mem- ber's second point, namely that re- lating to street cleansing. I hasten to assure him that the Health Au- thorities share his views on the sub- ject whole-heartedly. As the result of representations which were made by the Medical Department to Gov- ernment and which received at least in part, the support of the Urban Council, more refuse-lorries have been purchased and put into commis- sion and about 200 additional la- bourers have been taken on.
Like Oliver, the Department would like to see more transport and more scavengers available for this neces- sary work.
It has some hope that the Honourable Director of Public Works may find it possible to allow a certain amount of water to be used for washing down the streets and pavements in some of the more in- sanitary parts of the urban area.
In fairness to the Honourable Director of Public Works, it must be admitted that he is faced with a very heavy and responsible task to pro- vide enough water for at least one and three quarters million people.
A part of the nuisances encountered in the streets are the result of the careless habits of large numbers of refugees who have come to Hongkong for safety from villages in the war areas where it is customary to de- posit wastes of all kinds in the alleys
and houses.
open spaces adjoining their
More Latrines Shortage of public latrines and, as yet, an inadequately organised system of collection and disposal of night- soil from houses lacking a water- carriage system are further reasons for the unsavoury condition of some of the streets and lanes. Provision has been made in the Colony's budget for the constructions in 1940-41 of a proportion of the public latrines deemed to be necessary.
In addition, a subcommittee of the Urban Council appointed by direction of Your Excellency is now consider- ing the possibility of introducing a more up-to-date system than exists at the moment of dealing with night- soil advocated by the Health
as
Authorities.
Honourable Members can, I feel sure, rely upon the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Urban Council assisted by the Members of that Council to bring about the much needed improvement in the clean- liness of the thoroughfares of Hong- kong. At the same time, a reorgani- sation of the service responsible for supervising street cleanliness is in process of being carried out.
On the subject of squatters settle- ments, Honourable Members of this Council may be sure that the matter has been given the very closest at- tention by Government for some time past.
Many of these squatters are re- fugees. Many others were, hitherto, good law abiding citizens until high rents and depressed wages made it difficult for them to live in ordinary tenement buildings.
Providing for Squatters
That danger attends the existence of these squatters both to themselves and to the general public from the lack of sanitary conveniences, water supplies, and from outbreaks of fire, is well appreciated by Government. The present policy is to try to per- suade those who are refugees without means of support to return to their own country. Such persons are given a free passage and an ex gratia grant by Government to this end. Squat- ters who are Hongkong-born citizens or who are unwilling to be repatriat- ed are being provided for in two ways:
First, women and children among them are given the opportunity of accepting food, shelter, medical care and welfare services in the Govern- ment camps up to the extent of the accommodation available.
sent. They
Second, plans are in preparation for establishing one camp on the Island, a second on the outskirts of New Kowloon and two on the frontier between Lokmachau and Takuling, to which squatters unwilling to re- turn to China can be will be provided with a water sup- ply and simple medical and sanitary services, but they will have to pro- vide their own hut accommodation in proper alignment, adequate atten- tion being paid to fire-breaks, ven- tilation, drainage, etc.
Low Standard of Living If Your Excellency would al- low me the privilege and you, Sir, and the Honourable Members of Council would bear with me for a few moments longer, I should like to say a few words on the question of Income Tax which occupied the more prominent position in the speech of the Honourable Member,
If we review the very low standard of living in the Colony, the increase in food prices, the widespread mal- nutrition, the high rents, the tragic overcrowding, the high infant mor- tality and death-rates, we must all agree that the poorer sections of the community cannot have any further burden placed upon them.
Money has to be raised, however, for Defence purposes, both in rela- tion to the special needs of Hongkong and the war against aggression in Europe in which this Colony is so intimately concerned.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.