Sessional_Paper_1894 — Page 396

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SMALL-POX HOSPITAL.

In 1873 the only accommodation for cases of this disease among Europeans were in small verandah wards of the Government Civil Hospital and strong representations were made as to the dangers of such cases being admitted into this establishment. In 1875 so many cases occurred that the question was settled by the accommodation being insufficient, and the of half of the ruinous old building (one half of which was already occupied as a Lunatic Asylum) was hastily fitted up as a Small Pox Hospital and was so used till 1877. In spite of all representations of its danger to a Central District of the Town, its bad accommodation, &c. However some cases occurred late in the year when the typhoon season was setting in and it was represented that such cases could not be removed to the Police cells as the Lunatics were, so the lower storey of the ruin of the Government Civil Hospital blown down in 1874 was fitted up for the purpose and used till 1879 when the site was wanted for a New Lock Hospital. Then a matshed was built on the site of the Garden of the present Hospital and later a wooden hut with two small wards and one large one was built and still remains, but as this building is very old and has been partially destroyed by fire, a permanent building has been sanctioned and will, let us hope, be finished before a year is out as an isolated ward with smaller wards for private patients, is much needed for infectious cases attached to the Government Civil Hospital. At present inost cases of small pox are treated on board the Hospital Hulk Hygeia.

VACCINE INSTITUTE.

Considerable trouble had for long been experienced in obtaining vaccine in the Colony and I reported on this matter soon after arrival. A monthly supply was secured from home but most of it spoilt on the way out owing to the heat and long voyage by the English Mail route. It was then, at my suggestion, sent via America and by that route arrived in good condition but the vaccine sent was taken from the arm at home and we could not obtain a sufficient supply of calf-lymph. The arn to arm vaccination was unsatisfactory. A calf-lymph Institute had been set up in Japan, so for some years we had a good supply of good lymph procured from Japan, but that, from some cause or another, began to deteriorate and it was decided to have a calf-lymph Institute of our own. opened in 1892 under the superintendence of Mr. LADDS, Government Veterinary Surgeon, and the supervision of Dr. ATKINSON, Superintendent of the Government Civil Hospital. Since then we have had an excellent supply of good calf-lymph sufficient for all our needs and large quantities have been sold for the use of the Coast Ports and the Chinese in the interior, sufficient to make this Establishment self-supporting.

SANITATION.

This was

In 1873, on my arrival, there was on my office desk a Government letter three months old ordering an enquiry concerning an outbreak of Typhoid Fever in the Chinese Brothels. As a private practi- tioner was acting as Colonial Surgeon this enquiry was put off pending the arrival of the new Colonial Surgeon who was expected by every mail. Learning that cases of this disease were continually occurring, an inspection of nearly five hundred Registered Brothels was begun at once. So with the three Inspectors of Brothels a house to house visitation was made and the state of each house reported upon. This discovered first that the Inspectors had no instructions other than what was required by the Registrar General who was also Protector of Chinese, which related only to the women admitted into the brothels, their treatment, &c. They did not concern themselves about the houses or the accom- modation provided. It was found that they were all of them overcrowded, the majority of them filthy in the extreme, many of them wholly unfit for the purpose they were used and quite a number unfit for human habitation at all. Each Brothel was specially reported upon, what required to be done to put it into a sanitary condition, the number of inmates that should be allowed in each house, &c. The construction of these houses, the state of the drainage, the latrine arrangements, the awful state of filth and overcrowding were a revelation. It took six weeks working every afternoon from two o'clock till dark to get through the inspection, to inform the Inspectors what would in future be re- quired of them, to arrange that no new houses should be opened or licensed without previous inspection by the Colonial Surgeon and his reporting as to its fitness and how many inmates should be permitted. The report on each house as it was visited was sent in to the Registrar General every day. At the end of the enquiry a special full report was sent in to the Government, the cause of the outbreak of typhoid being fully represented.

Then came the question, as the Colonial Surgeon was responsible for the sanitation of the Colony, if these houses, which were specially under Government supervision, were in such a very dread- ful condition, what was the rest of the town like, and were his two Sanitary Inspectors as ignorant of their duties as the Inspectors of Brothels were of what ought to be theirs. While inspecting some houses the drainage specially came under notice and I wrote to the Surveyor General who like myself had only arrived in the Colony in 1873 and asked if I could see any plans of the town drainage at his office and his reply was that no plans could be found, that he was as much in the dark as myself on the matter.