Sessional_Paper_1895 — Page 213

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QUESTION OF INFECTION OF SOIL.

*

A great amount of interest has centred round the district known as Taiping- shan during the past months. The area which was walled in was undoubtedly one of the most noticeably infectel parts of the City of Victoria, though First, Second, and Third Streets in the Saiyingpun district were equally bad. Much general interest has been taken on this head owing to the resumption of the land by the Government, money matters having entered largely into this question in a purely mercantile community like Hongkong, where anything of a temporary commercial character always commands the greatest attention.

Taipingshan (by this I mean the closed area) was shut up :--

1st. Because it was badly infected.

2nd. Because in the opinion of the Medical Officers connected with the plague, the majority-if not all of the houses were not fit for human habitation at that time.

The first of these reasons needs no further demonstration when it is stated that it was difficult to find a house which had not a case of plague in it, while most of them had more than three cases.

The second cause has been demonstrated in the medical part of this report, and may be briefly summarised thus:--

(a) Filth everywhere, scavenging being conspicuous by its merely no-

minal presence as far as the front door.

(6) Overcrowding undoubted.

(c) The absence or very meagre provision of light and ventilation in

most of the houses.

(d) Basements abutting upon retaining walls and with floor surfaces

formed of filth-sodden soil.

(e) "cocklofts," ie., mezzanine floors, and cubicles which effectually led

to overcrowding and prevented the entrance of light and air. Taipingshan having been shut up, the next thing to be considered was "What is to be done with it?" The Housing Commission, appointed by the Governor to consider ways and means for the housing of the native community during the emergency, took evidence on this matter the opinions of Drs. KITASATO and YERSIN being asked, the possibility of the infection of the soil entering largely into the question.

After receiving evidence the decision arrived at was briefly that Taipingshan should be resumed, and should be destroyed, preferably by fire.

Naturally the desire of all medical men is to see a town which is perfect from a sanitarian's point of view, but it is a totally different matter when questions of economy have also to be considered. The fact remains that only a very small portion of the town has been improved, whilst the rest of it-some parts in equally bad sanitary condition at present--has been left in statu quo.

I have no hesitation in saying that where a Chinese population has to be dealt with, it will never be possible to keep even a perfectly laid out city in order, unless the strictest surveillance is kept over the inside of the houses; by this I mean looking after the numbers of inmates, the cleanliness of the houses, and the light and ventilation, drainage, etc.

No evidence was given by the local witnesses regarding the infection of the soil, though some of them expressed their opinions. Dr. KITASATO was asked his opinion on the subject only a few days before he left for Japan. I took him round the streets, and as he had lived with me for a month, I was able to get his opinions and views in a much more satisfactory way than by half-an-hour's writing. Dr. KITASATO'S statement as regards infection of the soil was as follows.

"I examined several times the dust of the floors, and the soil of infected houses with regard to their bacteriological contents, and only once I found in the dust of a house the plague bacillus. In soil taken from a considerable depth it has not been found so far, but these experiments require to be carried further." It was impossible for him to give a lengthy and careful report on the subject, his report being specially directed at the extremely insanitary condition of some houses. He was astonished at the state of affairs he saw, and although quite ready to help

*About ten acres of the most densely populated part of the City was closed by the Government at the height of the epidemic, all the inhabitants being turned out of their dwellings and housed elsewhere. The streets were walled up and constables were stationed to prevent ingress to the "forbidden city.”

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