Sessional_Paper_1904 — Page 329

No. 1904

22

HONGKONG,

REPORT ON THE HEALTH. AND SANITARY CONDITION OF THE COLONY OF HONGKONG, FOR THE YEAR 1903.

Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government.

POPULATION.

The estimated population of the Colony for 1903 was 325,631. There were 1,034 births and 6,185 deaths, 1,251 of which were from plague.

The birth-rate was 3.17 per 1,000, as compared with 3.8 per 1,000 in 1902. The death-rate was 18.9 per 1,000, as compared with 21.7 in 1902.

The following figures will show the comparison of the death-rate in the Chinese and Non-Chinese during the past two years:—

Non-Chinese, Chinese,

1902. 19.00 per 1,000 .21.93

1903. 16.6 per 1,000

19.1

>:

PREVALENCE OF SICKNESS IN THE DIFFERENT SEASONS OF THE YEAR, AND GENERAL CHARACTER AS TO THE MILDNESS OR SEVERITY

OF THE DISEASES PREVAILING,

Small-

-pox.-Sixty cases were notified, as compared with 57 in 1902. The greater majority of these, namely 53, occurred in the first five months of the

year.

Cholera. There was a remarkable immunity from cholera as compared with the previour year, only 10 cases being notified, as against 460 in 1902.

Plague. This disease again occurred in an epidemic form, 1,415 cases being notified, as compared with 572 in 1902.

As will be seen from the following table, the outbreak commenced early in the year; it attained its height in the month of May, and, as is usually the case, a marked decline occurred as soon as the mean temperature reached 82." Ė.

The following table gives the number of cases reported in each month of the last two years :-

January, February,

March,

April,

May,...

June,

July,

August,

September,

October,

1002.

1903.

1

4

29

2

115

27

272

.157

515

.194

343

131

85

50

32

9

4

1

།

November,

December,

The especial points of interest in connection with the 1903 outbreak have been :-

(1.) The earlier diagnosis of cases, which has been effected by a modifi- cation of Ross's method of examining microscopically blood films adopted by Dr. BELL of the Government Civil Hospital. As a direct result of this there has been a higher percentage of recov- eries, the cases having come under treatment earlier.