The vaccination of infants within six months after their birth is now compulsory by law but there will, I apprehend, be some difficulty in carrying out the provisions of the new Ordinance among a travelling population like the Chinese who are here many of them for a short time only. This difficulty will be due to the number of infants of whom nothing is known constantly arriving from without, and to the many taken away soon after birth.
PUBLIC MORTUARY.
Table VIII shews the number of bodies brought to the Mortuary for examination i. e.; 183, of these 11 were Europeans, 1 coloured, and 171 Chinese. Of the latter 36 were children.
VICTORIA GAOL.
The following figures give the number of admissions into Gaol and the daily average number of prisoners for the past ten years.
Total No. admitted
to Gaol.
Daily average No.
of Prisoners.
1877, 1878.
1879,
1880,
1881,
1882,
1883,
1884,
.....
1885,
1886,
1887,
..3,964..
.3,803..
.395.22
.519.22
..3,665..
..576.13
..3,530.
.575.25
.4,150....
....666.00
.3,498.
.622.00
.3,486.
.542.15
..4,023..
....552.00
..3,610.. ..4,600.
.4,302..............
.....
....530.00
...........674.00 ..584.00
These figures show a decrease of nearly 300 in the admissions and a decrease of nearly 100 in the daily average number in the Gaol.
Table IX shows the number of prisoners admitted to the Gaol Hospital, the nature of their com- plaints and the number of deaths.
Table XI shews the rate of sickness and mortality of prisoners under treatment in Gaol. The record of prisoners in the prison Hospital last year shows an increase of 27 as compared with 1886, while the number of deaths shows a decrease of 3. In 1886 there were in that Hospital 239 cases and 9 deaths, in 1887, 266 cases and 6 deaths. In 1886 there were two suicides and two sudden deaths in the cells, in 1887 two suicides and one sudden death.
Table XIb. shows the number of opium smokers consuming one mace and upwards received into the Gaol, their age, consumption of opium, weight on admission and weight at the end of a month or on discharge.
Table XIc. shews the number of opium smokers admitted to the Gaol Hospital and the diseases they were suffering from; there were no deaths among these opium smokers.
As usual there were no evidences of suffering from the deprivation of the opium-pipe, though opium in any form was carefully excluded from their treatment. The exclusion of opium is rigidly adhered to unless the treatment of the disease imperatively demands it; this however did not happen to be the case with any of the opium smoking prisoners under treatment last year.
I give the ages, consumption and weights of the largest consumers received into Gaol. They were six in number, all had habitually consumed 4 mace, i.e., half-an-ounce of opium daily, the time they have been addicted to the habit of opium smoking is also set forth :-
Age.
Number of years Opium
Consumption per diem. Weight on Admission. Weight at end
56
smoker.
20 years.
of 4 weeks.
4 mace.
110
106
67
40
$
103
109
"J
52
30
4
120
114
"}
""
78 70
35
4
96
96
36
4
106
98
""
"J
36
4
75
80
严要
""
* 72 Those marked with an asterisk were under treatment for general debility, the others were under no treatment for other ailments. It will be gathered from these figures that the habit of opium smoking does not interfere with the digestive powers. These men all consumed an amount of opium equivalent in value to 30 cents a day or $9 per month. Therefore they must have been of a comparatively well to do class and when at liberty could afford better food than the diet of the Gaol Hospital, for in order to live well, (for instance as well as the best class of Chinese servants,) it need not have cost them more than $3 per month for food.
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