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482
8th June.
IN ORIGINAL JURISDICTION.
BEFORE HIS HONOUR DE. CARRINGTON (CHIEF JUSTICE.)
MAN WO. v ON WO.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
The plaintiff firm claimed $2,762.37 for goods gold and delivered.
Hon. Ho Kai (instructed by Mr. Ho Wyson) appeared for the plaintiff firm and said the writ of summons was issued on the 12th May and when service was attempted it was found that the defendant had left the colony. The plain tiffs were wholesale bag dealers in Canton and between 22nd February and 2nd May they sold to the defendant, who carried on business in Hongkong, a large number of bags, the value of which was $4,762.37. Defendant had paid to the plaintiffs $2,000 on account, leaving a balance due of $2,762.37, which defendant had refused to pay. After the issue of the writ of summons proceedings were taken by way of foreign attachment on the 13th May, and the usual notice was inserted in the Daily Press of the 14th and 15th. May, in the Government Gazette of 16th and 23rd May, and in the Chi- nese Mail of 16th and 17th May, so that the requirements of the Code had been met.
His Lordship gave judgment for plaintiffs. HONGKONG SANITARY BOARD.
The fortnightly meeting of the Sanitary Board was held at the offices on the 4th June Hon. F. A. Cooper (Director of Public Works) presided, and there were also present -Dr. Atkinson (Acting Colonial Surgeon), Dr. Clark (Medical Officer of Health), Mr. H. B. Lethbridge (Acting Captain Superintendent of Police), and Mr. H. McCallum (Secretary)..
MINUTES.
The minutes of the previous, meeting were read and confirmed.
CHOLERA AT SINGAPORE.
The Colonial Secretary at Singapore for warded statistics of cholera cases at Singapore. From noon on the 22nd April to noon on the 11th May the number of deaths was 90. From noon on the 11th May to noon on the 18th May the number of deaths was 17, and from noon on the 18th May to noon on the 26th May the number was 30.
PLAGUE AT CANTON.
The Secretary read the following letter, which was received by the Colonial Secretary:
H. M.'s Consulate,
EXTRA ASSISTANCE FOR PLAGUE WORK. The following letter was read by the Secre- tary-
Colonial Secretary's Office. · 21st May, 1896. Sir,—I am directed to request that the Board will be so good as to consider the feasibility, in the event of the recurrence of plague in future years, of procuring such extra assistance as may be required elsewhere than from the ranks of the police, as that force is not numerically so strong as to warrant the withdrawal for any extended period of any of its members from their ordin- ary police duties except in cases of grave emer- geney.-I have, &c.,
J. H. STEWART LOCKHART,
Colonial Secretary.
The Secretary, Sanitary Board.
The following minutes were appended: The Secretary-Fairly reliable men can generally Le engaged locally, but for such a service and for a short period only the remuneration would necessarily have to be fairly high. The great objection to casual employes of this description is the want of a proper grip over them so as to ensure reasonable behaviour. If they were sworn in as special constables that
do not suppose it is contemplated to so increase the would in some measure get over this difficulty. I permanent staff so that they would be able to effectively deal with virulent diseases that have as- sumed the proportions of an epidemic in a popula- tion of, say, 250,000 people.
The Health Officer-Our sanitary staff must be strengthened in any case. In that way we may be able to guard against a recurrence of plague and other filth diseases.
The PRESIDENT-I propose, with the ap- proval of the Board, to acknowledge the receipt of the letter and to inform the Colonial Secretary that the subject will be dealt with in dealing with the estimates for next year.
The members approved.
MR. DANBY'S ALLEGATIONS.
The letter from Mr. Danby having reference to his previsons letter to the Press concerning alleged actions of the cleansing gang and sub- sequent proceedings relative thereto was laid upon the table.
The President appended the following minute:-
Paragraph 2.-Doubtless the Board will accept with pleasure Mr. Danby's assurance, though person- ally I think if he had addressed his previous letter to the Secretary to the Board in the first i state much information might have been obtained which was by the publication of that letter placed out of the reach of the Board.
I hope that a full and complete enquiry will be made into Mr. Danby's allegations against the Board and its officers by apparently the only means now available, viz., a Royal Commission.
[June 10, 1898.
On reference to that Notification and Ordinance 15 of 1894 it will be seen that the Notification, as clearly stated in the title, refers to "buildings erected before the passing of the Ordinance" and the condition under which permission will be granted to erect separate compartments. In the instances given by cocklofts in such buildings as are divided off into
Mr. Danby the rooms were not so divided off and
consequently the Notification does not apply.
Paragraph 19. The cleansing gangs are working under the instructions of the Medical Officer of Health and not under those of the Secretary.
Paragraph 20.-There was nothing to identify the premises referred to in Mr. Danby's letter of the 14th ult. as those referred to in the Secretary's minute.
Paragraph 21-The_removal or otherwise of a sunshade is not left to the discretion of the police.
Paragraph 22.-Certain enquiries were made as- to the charges made for preparing plans for alterations Board's letter was the result of those enquiries. No to cocklofts, and the statement contained in the reference was made to any person or profession in particular, but the result of the enquiry was given to show that, as Mr. Danby had stated, large sums were no doubt being paid to persons not connected with the Board in connection with alteratioùs to and construction of cocklofts.
It is of course no business of mine what value persons place on their services and I fail to see the nature of the accusation Mr. Danby credits me with making against the whole of the architects in the colony.
The Secretary in the margin at that part of Mr. Danby's letter stating that the Notification No. 373 to his mind "places the illegality of these cocklofts beyond all dispute," wrote the following minute:-
Mr. Danby has evidently a difficulty in grasping the true meaning of the Notification. I attach a copy and have underlined the words in the first sentence which must be read in conjunction with each condition. To make this quite clear I attach a second copy having the first sentence, preceding such condition.
The PRESIDENT-I propose, if members agree, to acknowledge the receipt of this letter from Mr. Danby and to inform him that it was duly laid before the Board at this meeting,
The members agreed. ASSISTANT SURVEYOR'S QUARTERLY REPORT,
Mr. E. A. Ram, assistant surveyor, forwarded his report for the quarter ended March 31st last. The total number of houses inspected or reported on was 4,852. Recommendations had been made with regard to the drainage arrangements in the cases of 3,830 houses, and notices had been served upon the owners calling upon them to amend defects in all these
MORTALITY STATISTICS.
instances. Canton, 27th May, 1896. Sir,-Referring to previous reports, I have the honour to inform you that in the city of Canton, so far as I can learn, there are still a considerable number of deaths from plague; but the disease has greatly abated in the suburbs.- I have, &c.,
E. H. FRASER,
Acting Consul. The Hon. Colonial Secretary, Hongkong.
PLAGUE AT AMOT.
The following letter was laid before the meeting:
Colonial Secretary's Office,
1st June, 1996. Sir, I am directed to state for the informa- tion of the Sanitary Board that Her Majesty's Consul at Amoy bas telegraphed to this Gov. ernment as follows:-"There are cases of plague reported here; and that the Health Officer of the port has been instructed to keep a careful watch on all vessels arriving from that port, as well as from Swatow.--I have, &c.,
41
J. H. STEWART LOCKHART, Colonial Secretary. The Secretary, Sanitary Board.
END OF THE PLAGUE AT KIUNGCHOW. The following letter was laid ppon the table:-
H.M.'s Cousulate, Kiungchow,
30th May, 1896. Sir, I have the honour to inform you that the bubonic plague in this island is finished. As in other places where it has been, a case or two may still crop up, but I am supported by the best medical authority for stating that it is over. I have, &c.,
O. JOHNSON, Consul. The Hon. Colonial Secretary, Hongkong.
Paragraph 3-I deny any animus · whatever against Mr. Danby; my minute referred entirely to the subject of the letter before the Board.
Paragraph 4-Refers to a visit paid me by Mr. Danby just as I was leaving my office to keep an ap pointment, and I so informed him and expressed a hope that his business would not detain nie long.
Mr. Danby made a general complaint about the way in which the cleansing work was being carried on, which informed him would be enquire into.
Mr. Danby then went on to state that a certain person, in no way connected with the Board, was re- ceiving various suns of money to arrange for the continuance of cocklofts and on my informing Mr. Danby that I did not see what the Board had to do with that he informed me that he had called upon me as President and his inference was that the officers of the Board participated in such sums of money.
As Mr. Danby was unable to give me any informa- tion in support of such an inference Leyond the alleged existence of illegal cock lofts, which we, how ever, found to le legal, further investigation by the Board without special powers appeared useless.
L'aragraph 5-The cases which Mr. Danby gave of legal cocklofts being pulled down and illegal ones being allowed to remain were duly investigated, and the result has already been reported to the Board.
Paragraph 6-An enquiry of the nature required does not come within the scope of the Board's powers,
Paragraph 7.-The places were visited by a respon sible officer and his report circulated to the Board, which in no way reflects on the integrity or discre
tion of the Board's officers.
Paragraph 8.-There was nothing in Mr. Danby's letter of the 14th ult. to identify the premises in letter Strand as those he visited with Mr. Ede
and Mr. McCallum. ·
Paragraph 9-The Board has decided that the alleged illegal cocklofts were legal.
Paragraphs 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18.-- Refer to cocklofts and Government Notification 373.
For the week ended 23rd May the death rate was 27.5 per 1,000 per annum as against 18:7 for the corresponding period of last year. For the week ended 30th May the rate was 42.4 as against 14.3 for the corresponding period of last year.
THE SERVICES OF RIFLEMEN DISPENSED WITH.
The MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH—I have to report that the cleansing gangs have now practically gone through the whole city; they have cleaned every Chinese house in the *(1). That the colony and I now beg to move- services of thirty-two privates and non-com- missioned officers of the Rifle Brigade be dis- pensed with from the end of this week. (2) That the services of the ten European con- stables and twenty-four of the Chinese con- stables be retained and also the services of the four privates and one non-commissioned officer of the Royal Engineers at present employed. in house cleansing at Yaumati. European constables is employed and will be employed for some little time with four of the Chinese constables. Another is employed on the launch engaged by the Board to look after boats, and eight will continue the house to house visitation in company with eight Chinese constables, and the remaining twelve Chinese constables are required for looking after the mat sheds which have been erected for the ac- commodation of persons turned out of their
houses.
One of the ten
The ACTING CAPTAIN SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE seconded.
The ACTING Colontal SuKGEON-I must say I think it is rather premature, to stop the cleansing gang now. Last week the number of cases was greater than in any other week this year, and I think we ought ́
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.