Sessional_Paper_1902 — Page 98

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Excellency the Governor of Hongkong to be informed as to the cause of this alleged immunity, if it exists, I beg to state that :----

(2.) There are not at my disposal accurate data upon which to base a calcu- lation as to the relative number of Chinese at present residing in Cape Colony as compared with the rest of the population. The last Census of the population of the Colony was taken as far back as the year 1891, and according to these returns there were only two hundred and fifteen Chinese males (no feinales) residing in Cape Colony, but it is certain that this number has largely increased; exactly to what extent, however, it is impossible to say.

(3.) The number of cases of Plague which have been discovered up to the present among Chinese during the outbreak is only ten, all of whom were males, namely:-

One at Cape Town,

Eight at Port Elizabeth, and

One at Uitenhage.

Of which number, seven have died, namely:-

Six at Port Elizabeth, and

One at Uitenbage.

Of the remainder-

One at Cape Town, and

One at Port Elizabeth, have been discharged cured; and

One at Port Elizabeth is still under treatment.

(4.) A round enumeration of the Chinese, Asiatics (Indians) and Aboriginal Natives at Port Elizabeth, made during the last few days, has resulted in the discovery of 390 Chinese, three hundred and eighty-four being males and six females. Of 707 Indians, four hundred and ninety-one being males and two hundred and sixteen females; and of eight thousand eight hundred and thirty Aboriginal Natives. This enumeration of Aboriginal Natives is more likely. however, to be inaccurate than that of Chinese and Asiatics.

(5.) Although these figures are quite insufficient for the purpose of arriving at a final conclusion, yet a rough indication of the relative incidence of the disease among Chinese, as compared with other races, and especially Indians, may be obtained. They give, in the case of Port Elizabeth, for the Chinese population a case incidence of over two per cent. of the community and a mortality (so far) of over one and a half per cent.; and a case mortality (so far) of seventy-five per cent. of total known attacks.

These rates may be compared with the incidence on Indians living in the same place, among whom four cases of Plague, all of whom have died, have been discovered, which give a case incidence and mortality of 0.57 per cent. of the In- dian community, and a case mortality of 100 per cent. of the attacks. They may also be compared with the rates for Aboriginal Natives living in Port Elizabeth, among whom forty-four cases of Plague have been discovered, of which number. twenty have died, fourteen have been discharged cure, and ten still remain under treatment; giving a case incidence of a little less than a half per cent. of the Abo- riginal Native population.

As the final result of so many of the cases among natives at Port Elizabeth is not yet known, no useful rates of mortality can at present be obtained for these Natives, but it is of interest to compare the case mortality in different races among