}
April 16, 1898.)
"has reserved for herself in the event of "the ultimate_partition of the great yellow 'monarchy. In all this we must admire "the ability of the English policy. There you see the people who in the China-Japan "conflict took the part of Japan. One would "have thought that when peace was signed 'China, if she had favours to distribute, "would have reserved them for those who
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"
helped her, to the exclusion of those who "opposed or abandoned her." Reference is then made to the assumed absence of any coucession to France, the article having been
written before the recent announcement on that subject, and the conclusion is as fol- lows: "On the other hand England has "obtained the advantages we have seen. "With more truth than the showmen at the "fair, who have adopted it for their games of chance, the Foreign Office might inscribe "above its door in Downing Street this "wonderful device,' Here one wins at every "throw!'"
CC
The article from which we have quoted is not entitled to any special weight; it is written without any very intimate or up-to- date knowledge of the subjects to which it refers; but it is nevertheless of some interest as an independent outside opinion. The writer, though not very familiar with the details of the game has seized upon the main
fact that Great Britain has come out the
({
(
44
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
made to France reads as follows:- "The "demands of France that have been ac- "corded do not include the alienation of any portion of Kwangtung, Kwangsi, or Yunnan, but the construction of a railway having its terminus at Yunnanfu, the "lease of a coaling station, and the nomina- "tion of a Frenchman as Director of the Imperial Post." It will be seeu that the reference to Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and Yunnan cannot by any twisting of the words be construed into the establishment of any special French influence in the pro- vinces named, and when the whole of the arrangements come to be stated in detail we suspect it will be found that British trade has nothing to fear from any political change in the South any more than in the North. On a review of the whole circumstances British subjects have good reason to con- gratulate themselves on the diplomatic suc- cess that has been achieved, The oppor tunities of trade have been largely extended and British prestige in the Far East stands higher than it has done for the last quarter of a century,
1
PLAGUE MEASURES AND MEDICAL
INSPECTION,
295
its own advantages. A doctor who was specially sent out from England to Bombay in connection with the plague there writes to the Times-(the letter appears in the issue of the 12th March)-in the hope that the influence of that paper
16 may put "iudirect pressure on the authorities to "treat the disease by methods more scientific "and which cannot be less efficacious than "those at present adopted." Having de- tailed the measures in force at the time he wrote, the correspondent says:-" There is
"
an immense popular prejudice against such "drastic measures, which would not for a moment be tolerated in any civilised coun- try in which the people had any reason to "call themselves free. The consequence "is wholesale concealment of cases, and the
•
+
sc
a sys- 44
1895,
gruesome experience of sending dying people stowed away in boxes, put under, beds, into lofts, or turuel into the street in the hope that they can be buried quietly and the house from which they came remain unknown." Since the date of the letter, 14th January, there have been riots at Bombay and the rules have been modified, a more conciliatory policy having been adopted and the prejudices of the na-
tives taken into consideration. It would
Chinese could be induced to report all cases certainly be a good thing if in Hongkong, whether by conciliation or compulsion, the
as soon as they occur instead of turning them out into the street. Whether concilia-
But whatever measures may be taken has once broken out the main thing is to cope with the plague when it
The Hongkong Telegraph, expressing what to prevent its introduction from outside.
SILVA to Dr. ATKINSON refers to personal In so far as the letter of Dr. GOMES DA
matters we may leave it to be dealt with by biggest winner. During the course of the the gentlemen concerned. What is of more game she has had to modify her tactics. direct public importance is the question tion or compulsion would be the more likely One has to do so in most games, according to whether "the slack way they do things in the course of the opponent's play, and dip."Macao" is, as Dr. GOMES DA SILVA claims, would be satisfactory to have a repre to effect that end is a point which it lomacy is no exception to the rule. Great attended with better results in the suppressentative Sanitary Board to decide, instead Britain started with the idea of preserving sion of plague than the strict way we do of the present almost exclusively official the integrity of China; she has succeeded things in Hongkong. The point is not one in preserving it in name, but in fact there upon which we are prepared to venture a
body. have been important cessions of territory decided opinion, but it must be admitted and a setting up of spheres of influence. that Macao's experiences in connection with Manchuria is now unquestionably a sphere the plague have been less painful than those of Russian influens, but subject to the con- of Hongkong. In 1894, when Canton and dition that the trade of all nations shall be Hongkong were ravaged by the disease, treated on on equal footing. Great Britain, Macao enjoyed immunity from it, owing, however, to meet this new development, according to Dr. GOMES
DA SILVA, has earmarked the Yangtsze Valley for her to the protection afforded by own in case of the ultimate break-up of the tem of medical inspection. In Chinese Empire, and in the meantime, with qowever, when Capton and Hongkong were a view to her own advantage and to the pre-almost entirely free of the disease, an servation of the Empire, has obtained im- portant concessions of political and commer- cial value. New ports are to be thrown open to trade, the rivers are to be opened to steam navigation, the railway is to be carried from Burmah through Yunnan into Szechuen; as a precaution against an administration of the Customs inimical to British interests the office of Inspector-General is to be held in perpetuity by a British subject, and in order to restore the balance of power in so far as it may have been shaken by the movements of other nations Weihaiwei has been ac- quired as a naval station. Having obtained so much we may regard without misgiving the acquisitions of our rivals, especially as they will all in the long run operate to the advantage of British trade.
The only point on which disquietude may seem to be justified is the alleged claim of France for a guarantee against the aliena- tion of any part of Kwangtung, Kwangsi, or Yunnan, a claim that might be construed as bringing within a French sphere of in- fluence territories that Great Britain may rightly claim as being within her own sphere. A coaling station of course we cannot grudge to France; she has as, much right to one as any other Power; but we could not regard with equanimity the subjection of the trade of the West River to French control or in-
fluence. There appears, however, to be some uncertainty as to this alleged semi-protectorate of France over the southern provinces. The Havas telegram referring to the concessious
*
says: It is time to realise that, situated appears to be a widely entertained view,
"at Hongkong is, disease gerins cannot be kept from coming here. The only thing to "do is to render the colony uninhabitable. for bacteria." Our contemporary admits epidemic occurred at Macao, but it was,
that this is a big order." It is more; it we believe, not so virulent as that which had whole must do what each of the European is an impossible order. The colony as a prevailed in Hongkong the previous year, and the inhabitants generally were spared that is, keep its house in good sanitary residents it is to be hoped does individually, the excessive hardship to which the in- condition and at the same time guard habitants of Hongkong were subjected against the introduction of infection. We during the epidemic here by the stringent regulations enforced, and especially by the may take it that Government House is as house to house visitation. In 1896 Hong meaningless one)-as any place in the colony, uninhabitable for bacteria-(the phrase is a kong had another epidemic, while Macao but we may also take it for granted that was again free. 1897 fortunately was not a plague year in either place. This year the introduction of a case of infectious General BLACK would not knowingly permit the disease manifested itself in Hongkong disease into the house. Why should it be some time ago and last month reachedssumed that the colony can with safety Macao, having been imported, it is believed, admit cases of infectious disease when we from Hongkong, but so far, it is claimed, only sporadic cases have occurred and no
are all individually so thoroughly cognisant of the danger of having such cases in our great alarm seems to be felt in the neigh- bouring colony.
own immediate neighbourhood? The co- lony has a two-fold duty towards itself to the same time to prevent the introduction perform, to promote internal sanitation and at of disease. Both involve some expense and trouble, but the system of medical inspection should especially commend itself on the principle that prevention is better than
The chief point of difference in the Hongkong and Macao methods of deal ing with the disease is that while it is alleged that under the Macao system the inhabitants willingly notify all cases of plague that occur in their houses the inhabitauts of Hongkong practise every possible concealment, so much so that, as was explained at a recent meeting of the Sanitary Board, "the majority of cases are "dead and picked up in the street, and
'
you cannot trace anything about them." Naturally the official view is altogether in favour of compulsion, but the system is evidently not without its drawbacks, and a policy of conciliation might not be without
cure.
We are informed by Dr. Clark, Acting Secretary of the Sanitary Board, that rinder- pest exists at the present time at Macao, Canton, and along the delta of the West River, but
that
by the officers of the Sanitary Board to pre- every possible precaution is being taken
vent the importation of infected meat into the markets of this colony,
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