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(5.) Cleansed it; during this time they were at liberty to go to the Board's matshed shelters aud had occasionally to spend one night there pending the proper disinfection of their premises, but were not detained there, being at liberty to go about their daily avocations. When this cleansing and dis- infection of the premises was complete the people were permitted to return to their houses.

(6.) A house to house visitation, in search of cases of the disease and of dead bodies, was performed by Police and Soldiers under the control of the Captain Superintendent of Police, (vide also Appendix B.), and these search parties succeeded in discovering 106 cases and dead bodies, while another fifteen cases were brought to light by Chinese detectives. A house to house inspection was at the same time made, in the infected districts, by the Medical Officer of Health and the officers especially appointed by the Board with the approval of the Governor, in accordance with Bye-law 25 made under section 13 of Ordinance 15 of 1894 who certified in writing what premises were to be

(7.) Cleansed and lime-washed; and this cleansing was done by gangs of coolies in charge of Police and Soldiers, while the lime-washing was done by contract and had to be done to the satisfaction of the Inspecting Officer.

(8.) The disinfection of the public latrines was effected by means of chloride of lime which was supplied to each latrine by the Board and was used under the direction of the Inspectors of Nuisances.

(9.) The extra flushing of the sewers was arranged by the Director of Public Works and was effected by increasing the frequency of the discharges of the flushing tanks which are placed at the heads of all the main sewers.

The care of the sick was undertaken by the Medical Department, but, in consequence of the difficulty experienced in getting the Chinese to submit to Western treatment, it was decided by the Government to permit the opening of a Native Plague Hospital, under European supervision, and on May 2nd such a hospital was opened at Kennedy Town, within the compound of the Government Infectious Diseases Hospital, and Dr. THOMSON was placed in charge of the sanitary arrangements. This hospital remained open until June 27th, and during that time 224 patients applied for treatment, of whom 209 were suffering from Bubonic Fever; the total number of deaths that occurred there was 173, giving a rate of mortality of 82.8 per cent., as compared with the general rate among the Chinese of 89.6 per cent. which shows, as might be expected, that hospital treatment even by Chinese doctors, under European supervision, produces slightly better results than obtain when the patient is treated by Chinese in his own home. The night-soil from the patients at both Hospitals was burnt, by mingling it with sawdust, sprinkling this with paraffin oil, and placing it on the top of a wood pyre erected on an improvised incinerator within the Hospital compound. The incinerator was of the simplest des- cription, consisting of a couple of parallel walls about 2 feet 6 inches high and 6 feet long, with a grating of iron bars across the top, the ground surface between the walls being concreted.

Owing to the proximity of the mainland of China, a considerable number of sick Chinese escaped daily from the Colony, and made their way to Chinese Kowloon (where a small matshed hospital, free from European control, was established) or to the delta of the Canton river, and thus endangered the future welfare of this Colony by infecting neighbouring rural districts which had hitherto kept free from the disease. With a view to restricting this exodus of infectious persons, the police patrol in the harbour was increased, and the following regulations were adopted by the Board :--

CONDITIONS SUBJECT TO WHICH PERSONS SUFFERING FROM BUBONIC FEVER WILL BE

PERMITTED TO LEAVE THE COLONY.

Any person suffering from bubonic fever who wishes to leave the Colony may enbark between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. at a wharf to be erected off the new Reclamation in front of Bonham Strand West subject to the following conditions :-

(1) The patient or his friend shall notify the patient's name and address or addresses at which he has been residing during the last ten days to an officer of the Sanitary Board on duty at the wharf.

(2) The destination to which the patient is to be removed shall be notified to the officer on

duty at the wharf.

(3) The patient or his friends must provide a licensed junk, or licensed boat (the latter to be towed by a launch) in which the patient is to be removed, and must furnish the officer on duty with the number of such junk or boat and the name of such steam-launch. (4) No removals will be permitted to places within a radius of 40 miles of the Colony. (5) The junk or boat used for the conveyance of the patient must on its return to the Colony at once proceed to the Water Police Station at Tsim Sha Tsui for disinfection.