Sessional_Paper_1900 — Page 555

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The total number of cases among Chinese children, under fifteen years of age, has been 273 or 25.9 per cent. as compared with 24.1 per cent. in 1898. As the proportion of children under this age, among the Chinese population of the Colony, is only 18 per cent. it is apparent that children are more liable to contract the disease than are adults.

The Dumber of deaths among Chinese children under this age was 264, which gives a case- mortality of 96-7 per cent., which is practically the same general case-mortality as among the Chinese of all ages.

The disease has prevailed throughout the year, the longest interval without a reported case being three weeks in the month of March, and the bulk of the cases has occurred, as in former years, during the second quarter-thus from January to March there were 20 cases with 19 deaths; from April to June 745 cases and 683 deaths; and from July to September 304 cases and 309 deaths, the excess of deaths over cases in this quarter being due to the fact that some of the 152 cases reported during the last fortnight of the second quarter did not die until the first week of the third quarter. During the month of October there have been 13 cases and 13 deaths.

No less than 412 of the cases have been dead bodies found in the streets or floating in the Harbour. This is equal to 37.1 per cent. of the total cases, as compared with 40 per cent. during 1899 and 36 per cent. during 1898. These bodies are thrown out at night by the other occu- pants of the infected houses, with a view to avoiding the disinfection of the premises, and it would appear to be impossible to put a stop to the practice without an enormous increase in the European Police force of the Colony. It is this practice by the Chinese that has necessitated such frequent house to house visitations by the officers of the Sanitary Board, and until the better class Chinese can bring such pressure to bear upon their poorer neighbours as will result in a cessation of this method of disposing of their dead, and concealing the address of the infected premises, I fear that house to house visitation, with its attendant discomforts to the more respectable Chinese residents, must be pressed, or the alternative of a wholesale vacation of the houses in infected districts be put in force. This latter remedy is universally admitted to be the most effective one for dealing with Bubonic Fever, but unfortunately its consequences to the property owner are most disastrous, as it naturally results in a loss of all rental for a period of some three or four months, and it is therefore as much to the interests of the property owner as to the Colony at large that all cases of this disease should be at once identified and isolated.

For convenience of reference I have appended to this Report a list of all the places in which dead bodies have been found, during the past year, and from this it will be seen that a considerable number have been persons who have found their way to the Canton Wharf with a view to taking passage to Chinese territory but have succumbed to the disease on reaching the wharf.

A very large number of bodies are found floating in the Harbour and these are not necessarily derived only from the floating population.

In the villages such as Yaumati, Mongkoktsui, etc., the facilities for putting dead bodies into the street are no doubt greater than in the City, and in consequence a considerable number of unclaimed bodies are thus thrown out.

The list will no doubt be suggestive to the Police as indicating the localities in which special vigilance is needed to stop this objectionable means of disposing of the dead, and at the same time of suppressing all information as to the actual address of the infected premises.

Should this continue, in spite of police vigilance, I see no other remedy than for the Board to decide to cremate all unclaimed dead bodies found in the streets, the Harbour, etc.

During the year more than 43,000 dead rats have been collected and removed from the City to the Rubbish Depôt, where they have been burnt with the City refuse, and in the appendix will be found a chart showing a comparison between the number of Bubonic Fever cases recorded and the general rat mortality from week to week. I have purposely described the chart in these terms, as on enquiry I am satisfied that comparatively few rats have been killed by the Chinese for the sake of the two cents reward, offered by the Government, and that practically the payment has been made, in all cases, to the scavenging coolies who have merely collected dead rats thrown out by the householders into the backlanes and alleys or placed in the rubbish boxes, or that have died in the streets. The returns show that the average rat mortality, above ground, of the City is from 400 to 500 per week, but that during an epidemic of Bubonic Fever, as many as 2,000 or more dead rats are to be dis- covered; the removal of these from the City is undoubtedly beneficial, as removing one important source of infection, both to human beings and to healthy rats. It will be seen from the diagram that the augmented rat mortality begins earlier and lasts longer than the epidemic among human beings and the Government have, on the recommendation of the Sanitary Board, decided to continue the payment for rats, although the epidemic has now ceased, so that any increase in the number collected may give early intimation of any recrudescence of the disease. It is also interesting to record that although over 400 Chinese coolies have been employed regularly in the scavenging and cleansing of the City and in the disinfection of infected premises, and that practically the whole of the 42,000 dead rats must have been handled by these men, yet only three cases of Bubonic Fever are known to have occurred among them during the year.

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