Sessional_Paper_1907 — Page 797

401

Small Poa.

During the year 192 cases of Small Pox were certified, of which 11 were European with 1 imported case, 168 were Chinese with 2 imported; and 13 were of other races with 1' imported case. One of the European cases, three of the other Non-Chinese cases and 137 of the Chinese cases died.

The number of vaccinations for the year was 7,450.

Diphtheria.

Thirteen cases of Diphtheria were notified throughout the year. Two of these were European cases, one a child the other an adult. Nine cases were Chinese, one Portuguese, and one Filipino.

All the cases of Diphtheria, with the exception of one, occurred during the last three months of the year.

All the Chinese cases died, and also the Portuguese child.

Puerperal Fever.

Thirteen cases of this disease were certified throughout the year. One was a Japanese case, and the remainder Chinese. Eight of the Chinese cases died.

The scheme inaugurated in 1905 for supplying trained Chinese midwives to attend the poor in their own houses has proved most successful, largely owing to the supervision exercised over these women by Dr. ALICE SIBREE, who is engaged in medical missionary work in the Colony. Two of these midwives were employed at the beginning of the year, and in August the number was increased to four. They have attended 188 confinements during the year, and exercise a general supervision over the infants, during the first year of life, advising the mothers as to the manner of feeding, etc. Seventeen of these infants have been taken out of the Colony-thirteen to Canton and four to Macao-and some of these are known to be alive and well, while of the remainder six only are dead-one a child that was practically still-born, one a child with hare-lip and cleft palate, that died at the third month, two prematurely born children that died during the first week, and two others one of whom died on the second day, the mother being ill with fever. These midwives consult Dr. SIBREE in all complications, and she was called to 20 of the above cases. All the mothers.

recovered from their confinements.

Plague..

There was an unforturate recurrence of Plague during the year 1906, the total number of cases recorded being 893. Five of these cases occurred in Europeans, while 9 were Indians, 3 Portuguese, 2 Japanese and one each Parsee, Malay, Filipino and Eurasian, leaving 870 Chinese cases. The death-rate among the Europeans was 40 per cent., while among the Chinese it was 96.8 per cent.

It is to be noted that the hours of sunshine for the first three months of the year were considerably below the average.

Further particulars of the epidemic are given in Annexe A.

INTERMENTS.

The following number of interments in the various cemeteries of the Colony have been recorded during the year :-

Non-Chinese Cemeteries.-Colonial Cemetery,

Roman Catholic Cemetery,

Mabommedan Cemetery,

Jewish Cemetery,

Parsee Cemetery,

Sikh Cemetery,...

124 1,355

59

6

4

10

1,558