Sessional_Paper_1906 — Page 216

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Dormitory-

Room I. First Floor.

Floor area, 528 sq. ft.

Cubic contents, 6,441 cub. ft. Window area (front), 90 sq. ft. Do. (back), 45 sq. ft.

Room II. First Floor. Dormitory—

Floor area, 522 sq. ft.

Cubic contents, 6,375 cub. ft. Window area (front), 90 sq. ft. Do. (back), 45 sq. ft.

Room I. Second Floor. Dormitory-

Floor area, 526 sq. ft.

Cubic contents. 6,683 cub. ft. Window area (front), 90 sq. ft. Do. (back), 45 sq. ft.

Room II. Second Floor. Dormitory-

Floor area, 523 sq. fr.

Cubic contents, 6.649 cub. ft. Window area (front), 90 sq. ft. Do. (back), 45 sq. ft.

Room I. Annexe. Dormitory-

Floor area, 902 sq. ft.

Cubic contents, 8.305 cub. ft. Window area, 223 sq. ft.

Room II. Annexe. Dormitory-

Floor area, 902 sq. ft.

Cubic contents, 8,020 cub. ft. Window area, 223 sq. ft.

Ventilation.

All the rooms of the main building open out on to the verandahs which overhang the small-narrow courtyard, the wall on the other side of which rises to a level with the floor of the second story. Small windows are let into the wall rising on the street The annexe has a verandah on each floor facing the street. These are closely barred and give on to a courtyard which serves as a waiting-room for the out-patients of the Tung Wah Hospital, which is also shut in by a high wall.

The other side of these dormitories of the annexe consists of a solid wall, having a door at the southern end. As these buildings are placed among a crowd of others, many of which overshadow them in height, and narrow streets bound them on two sides only, scarcely ever does a good breeze blow through them, nor are the means of ventilation sufficient. To this may be added the fact that owing to the plan of construction and the surroundings the sun's rays never seem able to penetrate beyond the courtyard. They certainly do not flood the rooms, they scarcely ever reach them. When the sun shines highly in Hong- kong it may be able to warm and to purify the air that reaches the Po Leung Kuk, but when the weather is wet, and the days dark, moist and gloomy, these rooms present a dismal and cheerless appearance which indicates a vitiated atmosphere, and suggests a nidus of disease. And such days in Hongkong are not remarkable for their rarity during some parts of the year.

The Beginning of the Outbreak.

On May 14th, two of the inmates, aged respectively 19 and 18 years, complain- ed of numbness in the legs, weakness and difficulty in walking. They were exa- mined and were found to be suffering from Beri-beri, and were transferred for treatment to the Tung Wah Hospital. The first had been in residence from April 22nd,-23 days: the second from March 14th,-62 days. Then a lull of a little more than a fortnight occurred, and two more were attacked-they had been in residence since the previous November. Then four more were attacked in June- on the 4th, 6th, 16th and 23rd. They had been in residence from three to two months.