Sessional_Paper_1901 — Page 531

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to exist in the way of overcrowding, filth, and general uncleanliness in quarters of the town seldom visited by Europeans.

17.-The late Colonial Surgeon, in his Annual Report for 1853, said :-—

60. Those that think sanitary work in Hongkong is being overdone are evidently ignorant of the want of it, and are unaware of the mine that has been forming of late years, that some day may be sprung with most disastrous results. The Report made by Mr. Chadwick seems hardly to be appreciated by the general public.

During the Cholera scare, an order for a general clear-out of rubbish and filth in houses was made, and in eight days 54,800 piculs of filth were removed, most of which was of the most disgusting description, and raised quite an outery of indignation in the Public Papers, when it appeared in the street, verifying the old proverb "What the eye does not see the heart does not grieve for." To shew how quickly this removal was made, in one day 11,000 piculs of this filth were cleared out of the Colony, and an average removal of 6,450 piculs made on each of the eight days.

61. During 1883 Cholera appeared to a great extent in the neighbouring ports of Swatow and Foochow, and many ships were in quarantine in this harbour that had deaths on board from this disease. A slight revival of the previous years' epidemic appeared in the Philippines. It may again appear this year, and as this Port remains in many respects in the same unsanitary state as reported by Mr. Chadwick and myself in previous years, it behoves the Government to take every precaution possible to prevent its appearance here.

63. As we have now a Sanitary Board composed of the Heads of the Public Works, Registrar General's, Police and Medical Departments, the responsibility of settling most questions of sanitation in the Colony does not rest chiefly with me, I am thankful to say, as it did in former years, for as I got very little credit for exposing the filthy state of things existing in this City, and was pretty much looked upon as a causeless alarmist, until my reports were verified by a Commission sent from home, so most of the blame would have fallen on my shoulders if an epidemic had appeared in these years, and then only these discoveries I reported had been made.

18. Since 1883, as the late Dr. Ayres repeatedly pointed out, the recommenda- tions of Mr. Chadwick were for the most part left in abeyance, or ignored, and so far as anything practically resulting the Sanitary Commission of 1881 might never have been appointed. In 1897 a Commission was appointed to inquire into the existence of Insanitary Properties in the Colony. Paragraph 4 of that Report is as follows:-

We regret to have to report that there are many insanitary properties in the Colony, and dwellings, which, in their present condition, are unfit for human habitation. The back portions of a number of the houses visited by us are dark, ill ventilated, extremely dirty, and in some cases mere dens of filth. The interior of the cubicles or sub-divisions of the living rooms was such that in the great majority of cases their contents could be seen only by the aid of an artificial light.

19. Crown Lands have been repeatedly sold in the City of Victoria without any regard whatever to sanitary needs, such as Markets, Bath-houses, Urinals, Latrines, Depôts for Cattle and Poultry, etc. The Sanitary Board has repeatedly urged the adoption of these reforms which have not been carried out. Dr. Francis Clark, the Medical Officer of Health, speaking at a meeting of the Sanitary Board on May 30th, 1901, said:-

The Board would admit that it was a most unfortunate thing for the colony that Crown land had been sold, which, had the Sanitary Board been consulted, would never have been placed under a hammer. The object of this resolution was to prevent in future the sale of Crown Lands which were required for municipal purposes. As an illustration he recalled to the minds