May 13, 1896.]
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
of $110, and the whole of it would, in my opinion, be The MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH sug- wasted. Small traces of chlorine in the atmosphere, gested the postponement of the question while quite harmless to pathogenic germs, are sufficient for a fortnight in order to create severe inflammatory conditions of the respira-statistical information as to the real effect of- to get accurate tory passages, especially in persons subject to these dis- esses, and while the public health would thus be deteri
chloride of lime in 1894. If there was any orated, no compensating benefit would be reaped. An evidence to show that it had been beneficial be ordinary Chinese floor will contain at least 5,000 cubic would be inclined to support the motion, but feet and it has been scientifically proved that to disinfect this area effectually with chlorine no less than 10 lbs. of theory of its utility.
the figures he had read did not support the chloride of lime and 15 lbs. of hydrochloric acid are re- quired.
The Acting Colonial Surgeon-The original papers should be attached. I refer to a report of Messrs Crow and Brown on disinfection by chlorine in August, 1894. If Sanitary Board had not a copy of this I understand it was printed in the Daily Press. An ounce of practice is worth a pound of theory. In the western district the free distribution of chloride of lime was commenced on the 5th and finished on the 9th of July, 1894. In the eastern district it was begun on the 10th and completed on the 13th of the same month. In both instances there was within a few days a marked falling off in the number of cases and in about a week's time plague ceased to be reported.
The PRESIDENT said he had had the Daily Press for the months of July, August, Septem- ber, and October, but the report referred to was not to be found. He had obtained the manuscript of the report and this the Secretary read.
Mr. EDE said he had tried chloride of lime in his office in order to neutralize some of the smells that came from the Praya, but he had found that it lowered the vitality. Of course if it diminished the plague he had no cbjection
to its distribution.
The MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH said the effects of the chloride of line had baen exagger- ated very much and he thought the figures had been misread. It would be seen from the returns between May and September, 1894, that the maximum number of cases occurred on the 16th June and after that the cases fell rapidly. That was the experience in every epidemic. An epidemic assumed a certain height and then fell with almost equal the rapidity as its rise.
In one week there were 643 cases and in the following only 252, a drop of nearly 400 cases, and after that they fell very rapidly. The disease in 1894 continued ten weeks after the chloride of lime experiments were made, while the fall commenced before, he did not know how long, the experiments were adopted. He was not in favour of distributing chloride of lime in small quantities because it would do harm to health. Chloride of lime is a gas which is far more poisonous to human beings than to micro- organisms, and its adoption would lead to an ihănite amount of suffering, while no good
result would be obtained. The great point was that the fall commenced before the experiments were made and that was an argument that the fall would have continued whether chloride of
lime had been distributed or not.
The ACTING COLONIAL SURGEON said the sole object he had in view
was that Dr. Lowson informed him it had been proved that in 1894 chloride of lime had done good, and when he inquired into the matter Messrs. Crow and Brown gave him certain information which showed that the distribution of chloride of lime was of great use during that year. Of course he knew it was difficult to understand how these small quantities of chloride of lime could act, but personally he thought that a great deal of the benefit was derived from the fact that the Chi-
There was no seconder to the amendment. The MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH said there were only eight cases of plague yesterday and that certainly did not show that there was a rampant epidemic, so no harm would be done by postponing the matter.
nese threw open all the windows and let in the fresh air to get rid of the smell from the chlorine. (Laughter.) Dealing with the question of chlorine he called the attention of the Board to the following-" Klein found experimentally that the infection of swine plague, which diffuses readily through air, does not spread in that way if chlorine is present even in such small quantities as to be respirable; and that an in- fected place was effectually disinfected by fumigation." That was an entract from White legge's Manual of Hygiene, a recent and well known work. He moved that the free dis- tribution of chloride of lime be again adopted as it was in 1894. He did not think there would be any difficulty in reference to the Chinese taking to it, as they seemed to think it was unfavourable to plague. At any rate that was the experience in 1894.
The ACTING CAPTAIN SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE thought the disease had already as- sumed a very serious pitch.
The resolution was carried.
A CASE OF SMALLPOX.
A letter was read from the Colonial Secretary stating that a case of smallpox had occurred on board the Wong Kai from Bangkok. The patient was under treatment in the Hygeia. He arrived on the 27th April.
In reply to Mr. Ede the ACTING COLONIAL SURGEON said he certainly did not think that small quantities of chloride of lime lowered the vitality.
THE CLEANSING OPERATIONS. The MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH re-
ported that during the past fortnight the whitewashing brigade had cleaned 865 houses, comprising 2,258 floors. He added that every Chinese house in the city had been visited by the gangs of soldiers and police with a view to finding sick people, and every public laundry in the city was visited every day by the gangs.
ADJOURNMENT.
The Board adjourned until Thursday week.
CHLORIDE OF LIME AS A
DISINFECTANT.
The following is an extract from the report of
infecting in 1891 referred to at the Sanitary Messrs. Crow and Browne on the work of dis- Board meeting on Thursday and which appeared in the Daily Press on August 31st, 1894:-
But as some of the most deleterious emana-
tions have no smell at all, no Chinese house, however clean, was passed over without leaving chlorinated lime, of which the efficacy in epide mics has been often noted, but, however, not often understood. On the present occasion it should not be overlooked that disinfectants may the destruction of the living cause of the dis- owe their power of producing immunity to (1) ease, (2) by hindering the growth of this living cause, (3) by the destruction of its infections Properties, which result is effected by taking
away
ing their poisonous products. (4) by the destruc- from the bacteria their power of produc tion in the infected organism of the poisonous material produced there.'
THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH.
The report of Dr. Francis W. Clark, the Medical Officer of Health, was laid on the table at the meeting of the Sanitary Board on the 7th May. We make the following extracts from it:—
POPULATION.
The population of the colony at the census of 1881 was 160,402, while at the 1891 census it has risen to 221,441, representing an annual in- crease of 3.277 per cent.; for the purposes of this report it has been estimated to the middle of 1895 to be 244,930.
The non-Chinese community comprises only 10,839, of whom 1,759 belong to army and 1,809 to the navy, leaving a civil population of 7,260. This civil population consists of persons of all nationalities, and the European element represents but small proportion, being esti- mated at 2,680; of these, some 1,800 are British and the remainder consist of Germans, French, Swiss, etc. The Portuguese, who numbered at the last census 2,089, and may be estimated, to the middle of 1895, at 2,230, are not included among the Europeans.
The remainder of the civil population is com. posed of Indians. Japanese, negroes, and natives of Malay and Manila, the Indians being numeri- cally the most important element.
The Chinese number 237,670 and they may be divided into two classes, the land and the
405
boat population, the latter numbering 33,180 and the former 204,490. The Chinese land population is distributed as follows:-
City of Victoria Kowloon ... Villages
167,500
24,270
12,720
204,490
The number of occupied houses in the city of and of these about 479 were exclusively Euro- Victoria, at the middle of the year, was 6,837; pean, so that the average number of Chinese occupying each of the remaining 6,358 houseS was 26-3, and as some of these houses are oc- cupied by the better class Chinese, it can readily be seen that the poorer portions of the city are greatly overcrowded.
The acreage of that portion of the city already occupied by buildings, including shops, go- downs, etc., is 574 acres.
The population of the city, both European and Asiatic, may be estimated at 176,000, con. sisting of Chinese 167,500 and non-Chinese 8,500 (the remainder of the civil population residing at the Peak, at Kowloon, and in the villages), which gives an average density of times the average density of population of population of 300 persons per acre, which is six London, and is another evidence of that terrible overcrowding which is largely responsible for the high death-rate and for such" uncontroll able ontbreaks of disease as that which swept
over the colony during 1894.
The Chinese boat population has been stated to number 33,180, and it must be remembered that these people live entirely on board their small craft, and have little or no intercourse with the land population. The number of registered boats belonging to the port is as follows :--- Fishing and trading junks 5,630, other boats (sampans, etc.) 3,804, total 9,434. Of this total about one-fifth would be absent from the waters of the colony at the time of the taking of the population is based upon those returns, it may census, and as the estimate of the present boat
be considered that an average of from four to five persons live upon each of these boats.
great excess of males over females, the proportion The Chinese population is peculiar in the being approximately one-fourth females and three-fourths males, while moreover these latter
may,
in a sense, be regarded as picked lives, for who reside in the colony solely with the object the great majority of them are young adults,
the full intention of returning to their homes, of earning and accumulating money, and with
ou the mainland, within a few years.
BIRTHS.
The number of births registered during the year was as follows:-
Males Females. Total. Chinese community 682 513 1,195 Non-Chinese community 119
232
1,427
113
This is equal to a birth-rate of 5-8 per 1,000. The number of births among Europeans was 95; of which 79 were British, 13, German, and 3 French. The births among the Portuguese numbered 63 and among the Indians 66, while there were also 3 births of Japanese and 5 of natives of Malay; the birth-rate among the non-Chinese community was therefore 214 per 1,000, while that among the Portuguese com- munity alone was 28-25 per 1,000 and among the British (exclusive of 19 births which occurred in the military quarters) was 224 per 1,000. This is one of the most satisfactory features in connection with our vital statistics, indicating as it does the remarkable extent to which family life prevails in this far-distant colony.
The number of Chinese births registered conveys a most erroneous impression of the actual birth-rate among the Chinese, for no less than 805 births must be added, none of which been computed by the Assistant Registrar were registered by the parents. This figure has General from the figures relating to the deaths of unknown infants in the various Convents and the bodies of newly-born children found in the harbour, or in the streets, and includes all such children as appeared to be less than one month old. With this addition, the number of Chinese births will stand at 2,000 exactly, and the birth-rate at 84 per 1,000, which is an exceptionally low rate, even taking into con- sideration the great preponderance of men over
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