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When I entered upon the duties of Registrar General, I found that, in cases of death reported by European medical practitioners, there was an absence of uniformity in the nomenclature of diseases used by them, which tended to reduce the value of their information for statistical and sanitary pur- poses. With a view, therefore, to introduce a uniform nomenclature and to bring about a general agreement among the medical practitioners in the use of such a nomenclature, I communicated with the Medical Society of Hongkong, which was composed of all the medical gentlemen practising in the Colony, and which has since been formed into a branch of the British Medical Association, and invited them to consider the question of a uniform nomenclature of diseases, pointing out that this was a matter of no small importance both from a sanitary and statistical point of view. As the result of this communication it was decided to adopt the nomenclature of diseases drawn up by a joint Committee appointed by the Royal College of Physicians of London, second edition of 1885, which is the first revision, the nomenclature being subject to decennial revision, and each medical practitioner was supplied with a copy of the nomenclature. Since the introduction of this nomenclature, it has generally been followed by the members of the medical profession, though at times the certificates of death given by them are not in accord with it, which tends to render the work of registration and classification difficult. It is hoped that, by calling attention to this, departures from the nomenclature will become less frequent, though they do not now occur very often.

Medical Certificates.

Up to 1891, there appears to have been no proper form of medical certificate of death in use in Hongkong. I drew the attention of the Medical Society to the absence of a proper form of such certificate some time ago, and pointed out the inconvenience and want of regularity which resulted from medical practitioners scribbling a certificate on any piece of paper which came to hand. Through some misunderstanding, whether on the part of this Office or the Medical Society is not quite clear, no steps were taken to remedy this unsatisfactory state of things until last year, when I caused to be introduced a form of medical certificate based on that used in England in the department of the Registrar General. All the doctors in the Colony have been furnished with books of these forms, which, I am told, they find a great convenience.

VACCINATION ORDINANCE, 1890.

This Ordinance makes vaccination compulsory in the case of any child six months old or upwards. Certificates of successful vaccination from medical practitioners or public vaccinators have to be presented and lodged at this Office seven days after the date of the certificate. In the event of the parent or guardian of any child failing to satisfy the Registrar General of the successful vaccination or unfitness for vaccination of a child, he is served with a notice calling upon him to have his child vaccinated, and, if he fails to produce a certificate within one month after the receipt of such notice, he is liable to be fined. For the purpose of facilitating the work of vaccination six public vaccinators are appointed under the Ordinance, and there is also an Inspector of vaccination, whose duty it is to secure the due performance by the Public Vaccinators of all vaccinations and to inspect the results. There are also Vaccination Stations, where vaccination is carried on free of charge, at the following places :—

In Victoria-Government Civil Hospital, Tung Wa Hospital, Alice Memorial Hospital.

In the Villages.-Government Schools, where vaccination is performed by the Tung Wa Hospital Doctors, who visit the villages on fixed dates.

The return in Table VIII. shows the number of notices served and the number of certificates of successful vaccination received during 1891.

Sixteen prosecutions for failure to produce the instituted, in all of which convictions were obtained.

certificates required under the Ordinance were

(See Table ÏÌ.)

The reason why there were so few prosecutions under this Ordinance is due to the fact that the Chinese are fully alive to the benefits to be derived from vaccination, which was almost universal among the Chinese in Hongkong before the Ordinance was introduced, the work having been carried on by the doctors of the Tung Wa Hospital, who also extend their operations to districts in the South of China.

ORDINANCE FOR THE REGISTRATION OF BOOKS PRINTED IN HONGKONG..

(10 OF 1888.)

The Registrar General is the Officer to whom the printers of all books printed in Hongkong have to furnish 3 copies of every work within one month after such work has been delivered out of the press, and who is entrusted with the keeping of the "Catalogue of Books" published in Hongkong. Of the copies of the books so furnished, one is transmitted to the Secretary of State, one is deposited in a public library, and the remaining one is disposed of as the Governor in Council directs. During 1891, 29 books were published as compared with 55 in 1890.

REGISTRATION OF HOUSEHOLDERS. (ORDINANCE 13 of 1888, Că. III.)

Under the law regulating the Registration of Householders, the actual tenant or occupant of the whole of any building or tenement in a district of Victoria, or, in cases where there is no such person,