Sessional_Paper_1907 — Page 279

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161. The bye-laws for the prevention and mitigation of infectious and con- tagious disease require remodelling to meet our present knowledge of plague and the actual conditions of Hongkong. Since they were enacted, no radical changes have been made, beyond the provision of compensation for property destroyed, Plague has been shewn to be much less infections than was thought twelve years ago; infection has been proved to be carried in ways other than those suspected in 1894; seasonal variations, recrudescence of plague in infected houses, all point to the necessity for some adjustment of our ideas as to the best method of restricting the spread of bubonic plague.

162. Permission should be given in certain cases for the patient to be treated in his own house. in moribund cases, the privilege granted, when Dr. PEARSE was Medical Officer of Health, should be permanently sanctioned and the patient left to die in his own house, and the corpse coffined there with all the ritual demiauded by the Chinese.

163. The disinfection of the premises might well be entrusted to the Chinese themselves. This was done at West Point in 1903 under Sir HENRY BLAKE'S directions, and the work was carried out effectively. A set of rules should be drawn up for the guidance of the Kai Fong (local Committee) and the actual work could be done under the immediate direction of the Sanitary Board and a member of the Kai Fong.

164. The institution of free dispensaries in 1905 and of district plague hospitals, a work carried on at present by the Registrar General and the two, Chinese members of the Board, deserves substantial encouragement at the hands of the Government. The free dispensaries offer the Chinese the benefits of European medicine, and the Chinese are the more stimulated to avail themselves of these advantages, as a certificate of the cause of death by one of the dispensing doctors, licentiates of the Chinese College of Medicine, does away with the necessity for a post mortem examination, which is abhorrent to the Chinese. The clerks at these dispensaries are most useful in explaining the Sanitary laws to the Chinese community.

165. The district hospitals also lessen the terrors of plague. In them, a patient may be treated by a Chinese doctor in his own neighbourhood, and may be visited by his relatives. It seems to us that in these institutions lies the germ of co-operation between the Chinese and the Board, without which an effective administration of the Sanitary laws would be well-nigh impossible.

166. The system of rat catching at present in vogue is far from being Rat catchers. satisfactory, scarcely any supervision being exercised over the meu, who are left to work almost entirely at their own free will. There is practically no check on their work, nor have there apparently been any written regulations drawn up for their guidance.

Allen's

167. Each Plague Inspector is allowed to engage his own rat catchers See Inspector and to give his own instructions. The Inspector apparently bases his report upon evidence. information furnished by the rat catchers.

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168. Reference having been made in section No. 241 of this Report as regards the constant complaints concerning the conduct of rat catchers, we do not propose See Inspector to go into further details. Suffice it to say that there is evidence to shew that men evidence. have been dismissed for ill treating and intimidating Chinese.

169. We cannot but attribute the failure of the scheme to the conduct of these rat catchers. Instructions should be drawn up for their guidance and a close check kept on their work as well as their conduct in entering peoples' houses.

170. Once the co-operation of the Chinese community has been secured, we have every reason to believe that a better result would be attained, as their domestic peace and their business not being interfered with, they will readily help in the extermination of rats. Besides the refuse meat obtained gratis from the Slaughter House, we find large quantities of beef, sometimes amounting to about $60 a month, were bought from the Man Hing shop for bait. This should also be discon- tinued in future, as it was a waste of money; further, there were grave doubts whether the beef had been used for the purpose for which it was intended.

Allen's

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