March 18, 1896.]
we bear in mind that in addition the whole of these " gutted" houses have been exposed to atmospheric influences for over eighteen months I fail myself to see how any infection can be considered as remaining within the area. There is absolutely no proof whatever that the infec- tion has been conveyed in any of the material which has been taken away. Personally I think | it advisable that any woodwork which remains should be burnt, as it can now be of very little value and may allay public alarm, which, however, from a scientific point of view, is groundless.
The MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH—I should like to offer a word of explanation of
***
堕常
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
Acting Captain Superintendent of Police and
Mr. Ede did not vote.
BAD WILL WATER.
Six samples of well water analysed by the Government Analyst were certified to be unfit for potable purposes and likely to prove in. jurious to health. The wells were ordered to be closed.
THE FORESHORE AT STONECUTTERS' ISLAND. Mr. J. Livesey, officer in charge of the Gov- ernment gunpowder depôts, Stonecutters Island, wrote calling the Board's attention to the prac tice of boatpeople in charge of the contractors dust boats from Hongkong dumping the sweep- my very brief minute. Why I put the remarkings and refuse of the city into Chinese waters agree was that I looked upon the matter to the north and east of Stonecutters' Island. as a concession to popular prejudice. I have The refuse ranged from every sort of vege not the slightest belief myself that either the table to a still-born child" and was carried on woodwork or the bricks communicated plague, to the beach. but it seemed to me that the result of the sale was very small and the popular prejudice so great against the sale that I thought it would be better to agree on this ground. This would give people the opportunity of saying there was no danger, and although we are convinced in our own minds that the disease is not com- municated by the sales, it seems desirable to make concessions to popular prejudice eren when contrary to scientific results. For that reason I agreed that the wood should not be sold but burnt.
The following minutes were attached
Mr Ede I think if the contractors are warned to carry out their contracts properly it will he sufficient.
tu
The Acting Colonial Surgeon-Would not he possible for the Board in the next contract specify that the rubbish, etc,, must be dumped into the sea further away from the colorjy? Undoubtedly a nuisance exists near Stonecutters' Island. the cause of it is I am unable to say. I have ex- perienced it myself whilst sailing past.
What
The Health Officer-I have infected the north and south leaches of Stonecutters Island this day. The north beach I find to Le very clean; the south leach is littered with sca weed, amongst which is a small quantity of vegetable refuse from the shipping in the port. The refuse from the plaque isolation leats, which are now all removed, Imust have Teen infinitesimal; there is no evidence to show that any of this flotsam and jetsam comespecially from the contractors boats, as it is the ordinary debris of a busy harbour and is moreover not in any way often- sive, ut pre-ent at least. I will instruct the Kowloon contractor to carry out the provisions of his contract,
231
People are warned on the day previous that their houses are going to be cleansed. Each house is cleansed within an hour or an hour and a half, and the tenant has to move his furniture temporarily into the street while the coolies do their work. About 150 coolies are employed every day and in each of the - premises the floors are scrubbed with Jeye's fluid and the walls limewashed. When that process is over-it takes from an hour to an hour and a half-the people are told that they can take their furniture back into their houses, and as the work closes finally at five o'clock in the evening there is no necessity whatever for any people to sleep out in the open streets. With regard to the damage to clothing by rain I have given instructions that whenever it rains the work shall cease, so that the people's effects are not damaged by rain. One day last week no work was done on account of the rain- and the inspectors were employed in attending to the removal of illegal cocklofts and cubicles. Everything is done in regard to the feelings of the tenants to render the houses clean and the work is being pushed forward as quickly as pos- siple.
The PRESIDENT-In cases in which the ten- ants clean the houses themselves the Inspectors see that the work is properly done?
The MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH-Yes, some tenants have sent in written applications for permission to do the work themselves.
The ACTING COLONIAL SURGEON-I think it is advisable to give tenants twenty-four hours'
notice before the honses are cleaned.
The. MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH-We give notice on the preceding day; it is practi- cally twenty-four hours' notice.
THE OUTBREAK OF DISEASE AT THE DAIRY FARM.
The PRESIDENT-Since this subject has been brought before the Board and more particularly as it has occupied some attention of late in the colony I think it would be very unfortunate if the matter were left, without the Board having some definite resolution on the point. Either the Board is totally wrong and has been totally wrong, in its methods of exterminating the If it plague bacillus, or it has been right. has been totally wrong, then the sooner we mend our ways the better. On the 6th June, 1895, the project of dealing with the resumed area of Taipingshan was brought before the Legisla... to remove or burn such denis as may wash up be
on these foreshores twice every month, and this will, tive Council, it having been previously con- I think, meet the case. sidered at two meetings of the Public Works Committee. At the meeting of the Legisla- tive Council- the project was, with one ex- ception--Hon. E. R. Belilios-unanimously approved. At that time there was no hiut given that the condition of the buildings in Taipingshan was such as to render it likely that demolition and sale would cause the spread of the plague. It was clearly stated in paragraph 31 of the special report that it was the inten. tion to offer for sale all Block A and to sell the houses and materials and to retain a portion of the land for public use.
This is nine months ago, and as far as I know the scheme was public property and received a good deal of attention at the time. No member of the Board had the slightest hesitation about the completeness of the proposal, and I think it is somewhat unfortunate that if anyone was of a contrary opinion he should have allowed nine months to elapse before haring the matter dealt with by the Board. If they in- tended to represent their opinious before the matter was dealt with by the Board the sooner they had done so the better. I have failed to find any new facts brought before the public, beyond those existing at the time the project was approved by the Legislative Council, to justify the Board or anyone else in changing their opinion now so far as the consideration of the facts is concerned. I do not think this matter should stand as it is, and I propose to place the following resolution on the records of the Board" That the Board is in possession
of no facts to warrant the belief that the material remaining in the resumed area of Taipingshan is infected with the plague bacillus. On the contrary, in the opinion of the Board, the statistics in its possession prove conclusively that steps taken to eradicate the bacillus from infected premises in 1891 have been attended with most satisfactory results. The Board, however, in view of the popular feeling on the subject recommend that if further material is sold steps should be taken to burn as far as practicable all wood still remaining in the buildings."
The ACTING COLONIAL SURG:ON—I second
that.
The resolution was carried: The President, the Acting Colonial Surgeon, and the Medical Officer of Health voted for the resolution. The
:
This
The Secretary-The actual facts should je stated before this matter comes before the Boar man Livesey has always some grievance to air in somewhat wild language. The Kowloon scavenging contractor has to keep the colonial foreshore clean. The military and naval people have to look after their own foreshores. I doubt very much if any of the refuse washed up on Stonecutters Island generally that is responsible for the délais to be seen comes from the dust boats. It is the shipping
floating in the harbour. Every boat and ship disposes of its waste by dumping into the water. do not think it is worth while bothering any further about this complaint. The conlainant is a must troublesome man and is greatly in need of curbing.
It was resolved to instruct the officers who had the matter in band to do their best to keep the foreshore clean,
MORTALITY STATISTICS.
For the week ended 29th February the death rate was 26.8 per 1,000 per annum, as compared with 20.8 for the corresponding period of last r. For the week ended 7th March the death rate was 32 per 1,000 per annum, as compared with 19.9 for the corresponding week of last
year.
THE PLAGUE WORK.
The PRESIDENT said it would be of interest to learn from the Medical Officer of Health what work was being done in connection with the plague.
The MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH-Six acting Inspectors of nuisances have been ap- pointed and since they commenced a fortnight ago the number of houses dealt with has been 1,057, and of these 502 have been disinfected and cleansed, and those 502 houses comprise 1,230 floors, all separate dwellings. In addition 555 houses have been inspected personally, altogether 1,451 floors, and the tenants of these have been given the option of cleansing the houses themselves; of course if that is not doue it will be necessary for us to cleanse these as well. I will now state what the procedure is in regard to cleansing so as to do away with some misunderstanding that seems to exist on the subject. In the first place the furniture is not thrown out of the window as a rule (laughter); it is taken out, through the doors. Secondly, the occupants of the houses are not compelled to sleep in the streets at night. The work commences at nine o'clock in the morning and is finished at five o'clock in the afternoon.
The SECRETARY-The Dairy Farm Company have employed a number of men to see to the work of removing the dead cattle. They will taken about four miles away from the island in a cargo boat and stones will be put round them and their carcases cut open so that there will be no chance of their coming to the surface again and being carried on to the shore. The work is being carried on as quickly as possible, and it is expected that the whole place will be free of the infected cattle by noon to-morrow. When the cargo boat which has been engaged for the purpose comes back it will be thoroughly disinfected and either re-tarred or re-varnished.
Mr. EDE-Would it not be better to destroy the boat? It would not cost more than $200 I
spppose.
The SECRETARY-It is a large cargo boat and would cost more than that.
Mr. EDE Can it be thoroughly disinfected? The SECRETARY-Oh, yes.
The ACTING COLONIAL SURGEON-I may mention that Dr. Lowson and myself have phatic gland from one of the dead cattle handed examined microscopically the blood and lym- to us on the 10th inst. by the Medical Officer of Health. We found certain bacilli present in the gland, but the result of inoculation experi- ments on mice has proved conclusively that the disease is not anthrax. We have further examined the spleen of another body that died yesterday and find nothing definite present.
Mr. EDE-Can you say what the disease is? not sufficient evidence to show. It is evidently The ACTING COLONIAL SURGEON-There is septicemia of some sort accompanied by high
fever.
The ACTING CAPTAIN SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE-There does not appear to be any cattle disease on the mainland as far as we can find out.
ADJOURNMENT.
week.
The Board then adjourned until Thursday
MR. ANDREW'S CASE AT WUCHOW.
The interference of the local authorities at Wuchow with the disposal of Mr. Andrew's goods at that port has, we hear, been fully endorsed by the Viceroy and the question has now to be decided between the Tsungli Yamen and the British Government whether the treaty provisions as to transit passes are to be observed or not. It will be remembered that on repre- sentations being made by the British Chargé d'Affaires to the Tsingli Yamen instructions
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