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observation, all others would be freely passed, and, without delay, greater care being taken with those boats coming from districts in which it is known by the bulletins suggested, that plague exists.
13. Special measures should also be taken for the systematic destruction of rats on in-coming steamers and junks from the Chinese coast, from infected ports, and which go to the wharves or into the docks. The junks and steamers anchoring in mid-stream need not be dealt with, nor need ships in transit, provided the precautions referred to in my previous memorandum for the prevention of rats coming on shore from the ships and boats which are moored to the shore are rigorously and properly enforced.
14. The defence against the importation of plague being so weak, it is all the more important that the defence against its spread in the town shall be particu- larly strong in order that full control over the disease may be obtained. This cannot be said to have been the case hitherto, for there exists no special and separate organization for that purpose.
15. In addition to the ordinary intercourse between China and Hongkong already mentioned, there are thousands of emigrants brought into the town from the districts of Pakhoi, Hoihow, Canton, Amoy, Swatow and the Chinese coast generally to be despatched to Singapore and elsewhere. The busy season is from the New Year to May and, so far as I have been able to ascertain, there is absolutely no control over their housing or movements during their temporary stay in the Colony. Immediately on their arrival they go to the common lodging-houses, boarding-houses, and tene- ment houses in the town, and are collected from these by the Chinese agents and contractors who have brought or have had them brought from China. No emi- grant is allowed to leave the Colony without his or her history having been enquired into and a permit being given, and without a cursory medical inspection before leav- ing; for this purpose the emigrants meet at the Harbour Master's Office on one day and are inspected on boardship by the Medical Officer of the Port and the Assistant Harbour Master on the next. If rejected by the Medical Officer, the emigrant, unless obviously suffering from plague, goes back into the town, no one knowing where he goes. In the case of American, Philippine and Canadian ports, the medical examina- tion, as distinct from mere medical inspection, is very complete and each emigrant is bathed and his or her clothes and baggage are thoroughly disinfected.
16. The protection of this Colony does not appear to have come into the arrangements. I would advise that emigration be regulated as it is elsewhere, and with this in view, arrangements should be made that the emigrant-houses are known, registered and kept under special control; that they are inspected daily, that their sanitary condition as regards cleanliness, superficial area, cubic space, sunlight and ventilation, is thoroughly looked after, that a proper register of the names of the inmates is kept by the emigrant-house keeper and that the state of health of every emigrant in this Colony is also known, and this can only be obtained by regular medical inspection of the emigrants in the emigrant-houses and immediate com- pulsory notification of all sickness, whether infectious or not, by the emigrant-house keeper.
17. The early discovery of plague cases is one of the requisites necessary for dealing with the disease. Plague, with its millions of minute and invisible microbes capable of self-multiplication, is more formidable than an army even with smokeless powder and it is as essential, when dealing with plague, to have the earliest possible intelligence of its several movements, as it is for a General in the field to know the exact and if possible the intended movements of the enemy he has to meet.
18. The usual method adoped in plague and other infectious diseases to obtain early intelligence of the disease is compulsory notification by the medical men attending the case and by the householder in whose house the case occurs, which is
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