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people understand that it will only be done for them when they will not do it themselves. Give them ample notice, consider their interests and prejudices to a reasonable extent, and let the officials entrusted with the work be men of intelligence, men well paid, men superior to bribery, and men who can be trusted to "do as they would be done by."
I venture to think the foregoing will be found the only practical and reasonable way of dealing with the plague, and that in course of time we should have a very different tale to tell to that of the panic, fright, and disturbauce that a visitation of it brings to-day.
I offer the following suggestions as being of a practical nature :—
(I) Cease the house to house risitation in
search of sufferers.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
I
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that by this means. we shall obtain as accurate information of plague cases as before. There will be no corpse inspection, there will be no measure that will entail delay in the perform ance of funeral rites, but our main object is to ascertain where a death has occurred, and on re- liable information being received.
that the death must have been due to some other cause than plague that house will be left undisturbed. I am especially anxious that all com- plaiuts, thatall grievances, should be thoroughly ventilated and examined.
So I propose,
I also quote from the new Bombay Plague Rules:-
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[April 23, 1898.
pirates boarded her without any difficulty. They then robbed the passengers, taking away all the raluables ou board. Not long afterwards a junk came in sight and the pirates forced the cox- swain of the launch to steam to her. The master of the junk, observing this, at once ran his vessel ashore and landed all the passengers. When the steam-launch came up, the pirates beat, the master for letting the passengers get away. They then let the steam launch go and sailed away in the junk. Up to date no trace of the junk has been discovered.
that one person from each of these communities Several days ago an old woman went with (ie. Hindu. Parses, &c.) together with a British her two sons to buy rice at one of the stations Our interests are threatened by this dread officer shall attend for the purpose of hear- where rice is being sold at reduced rates. The disease, and if for no higher than a personaling and ventilating those complaints. There is woman told her elder son of ten years old to motive we must insist upon the Government only one way in which we can hope to take care of her younger son, about a year old, giving an unofficial majority to the Sanitary vanquish the plague. Before we can hope and to wait for her at the entrance to the station, Board, invest it with fuller powers, and afford to do that the first thing we must do whilst she pressed into the crowd to buy rice. A it ample means to enforce and carry out those is (to use an English expression) to keep kidnapper seeing the woman go away gave ten powers.
our beads. We can only do so by main-cash to the elder son to buy some cakes for the taining an attitude of the greatest patience and younger son, saying he was a friend of the old forbearance and courage and above all a mutual woman and so induced the elder son to let him confidence in one another,”
take charge of the child. When the woman came out from the station, the elder son told her the story and she cried bitterly. When the case came to the knowledge of the weiyuen in charge of the station, he fold the wom n not to make any noise and promised to discover the son for her. The weiyuen then called all the go-betweens into his presence and told them that a mandarin had asked him to buy a son for him and said he could pay five hundred dollars for a small boy. The go-betweens then brought to him about twenty small children, one of which was the kidnapped child. The go-be- tween and a man who brought the child were at once sent to the Nam-boi Magistrate for trial, and the child was restored to the old
(2) Provide free Chinese medical attendance to the poor at convenient places throughout the town.
(3) Provid~ free launches to remove infected
persons.
(4) Provide free temporary hospitals with Chinese medical attendance but under European supervision.
(5) Comp nsate the poor for destruction of
their property.
(6) Proclaim this by means of posters scat-
tered broadcast throughout the city and let the Chinese doctors understand that cases of plague must be reported, and let the people know that they may remove their sick without hindrance.
The answer to these suggestions may be that people will not report their sick, and that they will continue to dump their dead into the street or leave them in empty houses.
Now a person attacked by plague must, so far as this colony is concerned, either die, be removed, or recover. If he dies, bis death will either be reported or the corpse disposed of. If reported, wall and good. If disposed of, give the people of the street which the body is found a house to house risitation by the police every day for a week or so, aud they will take very good care that corpses are not left lying about a second time. If the patient be sur- reptitiously removed he will be discovered at the point of embarkation.
If a patient be secretly treated in his own house and recover, ne could afford to run the risk, as the number of such cases must be very few indeed.
As to infected premises, let them be visited by an intelligent officer, one who can be trusted to discriminate, and let him decide whether the contents should be burut or whether fumigation alone will suffice.
This is a rough outline of the measures which I believe would in course of time succeed in winning the co-operation of the people and enable us to combat the plague. Though crude and erroneous in part, they are, I believe, right in the main, and in time would, if cou- sistently, persistently, and effectually carried ont, enable us to solve this very difficult pro- blem.
In conclusion I beg to quote the following from the Governor of Bombay's speech as re. ported in the Bombay Gazette of 19th March
fast:-
I know very well that in Bombay the measures that have been taken have been very. distasteful to a very large number of the popu- lation. Also everyone connected with the Go- vernment will admit that it is their duty to remove obnoxions measures if measures less obnoxious and not less efficient can be found to take their place. But the problem, gentle. men, is, what are those measures to be? The only answer I can give to the question is that we must make one more determined effort to get the mass of people on our side. It bas been ascertained that the house to house search Las not produced the effect, and the results it was hoped would accrue and therefore to replace general searching I am prepared to substitute As an experiment an undertaking from the various communities. that they will give notice of suspicious cases of illness. For I believe'
(1) No patient is to be removed to a plague hospital unless the case is undoubtedly a plague case and no medical certificate shall be accepted as -vidence that the case is one of plague unless it is signed by a fully qualified medical officer. (3)-That no plague cases which a fully qualified medical officer may pronounce to be hopeless shall be removed to hospital
without the consent of the relatives. (4)-- hat no inmates of a house are to be removed without intimation being given to the head of the family, (5)-That when any damage is caused by destruction of property (to diminish risk of infection) compensation must in the case of the poor be paid on the spot and there should be no destruction of property when fumigation will suffice.
This, then, is what the Bombay people have some to, after their terrible experiences, and after trying methods of prevention similar to our own. What is good enough for Bombay, will, I think, be found equally suitable for Hongkong-Yours truly.
EDWARD OSBORNE. Hongkong, 20th April, 1898. P.S.- Since writing the above I see that Mr. May's proposal for a Chinese hospital where patients can be treated by native doctors has been carried in spite of the opposition of Dr. Atkinson and Dr. Clark, and the community is to be congratulated on at least one step bar. ing been taken in the right direction.
CATON NOTES.
[FROM THE “CHUNG NGOI BAN PO”] Tong So, a notorions robber in Fa-un district, and one of the followers of Chang Wan. who gave much trouble in Fa-un district and was last year fatally shot by the soldiers, was derapi- tated together with six other robbers a few days ago. The beads were sent to Pan-po, where the robbers had committed many crimes and were hung on bamboos for public exhibition.
A fire broke out on the 14th instant in Luk- pohu, about sixty li from Shiuhing district. There are about eight hundred shops and a good number of family houses in the town. The fire originated in a family house, and twenty- four houses were burnt to the ground. but no loss of life was reported. Most of the houses
were of wood.
The Sansz of Lukposhi in Pun-n district, where there are about two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, have issued notices in all the villages strictly prohibiting the import and sale of kerosine oil under beary penalty, on the ground that many accidents have been caused lately by the use of kerosine oil lamps.
Liu Yung-fu, the Black Flag General, who was sent by the Viceroy to enlist the old soldiers of the Black Flags, will arrive at Canton in a few days. He has enrolled altogether three thousand of his old followers. He sent back his baggage to Canton on the 14th inst.
On the 18th instant a steam-launch running between Canton and Kiangmuu was attacked by a number of pirates who came up in a long boat. As the steam-launch made no resistance, the
woman.
HONGKONG.
No stone is
The
A
That the Sanitary Board fully recognise the responsibility resting upon them will bave been abundantly evident to anyone perusing our columns during the past week. being left unturned with a view to checking the bubonic plague with which we have been afflicted during the last few months. Board have had two meetings this week. rather important decision was come to at a meeting held on Tuesday, namely, that a hos pital should be provided at which Chinese plague patients should be able to be treated by their own doctors and according to their own methods, and at a meeting on Thursday it was reported that arrangements had been made with the Tung Wah Hospital Committee for carrying this into effect. Saturday last saw the opening of the Gymkhana season, and Wednesday evening saw the closing of the season in connection with the Odd Volumes Society, a meeting taking place in St. Andrew's Hall at the City Hall at which electrical and other exhibitions of a similarly interesting character were held. On Saturday at noon a meeting of Justices was held re the deleterious liquor question. It was agreed before the commission appointed to investigate is dissolved the evidence of the Acting Govern- ment Analyst, Mr. F. Browne, shall be taken. Mr. J. J. Francis, Q.C., under the auspices of the Javy League, delivered a lecture in the Chamber of Commerce Room at the City Hall on Monday on The life of Nelson and the lessons to be learned from it."
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The stamp revenue for the first quarter of the present year amounted to $113,825, being an increase of $48,764 on the amount aollected in the corresponding quarter of last year. $36,799 of the increase occurs under the head of probate.
It is notified in the Gazette that Dr. J. H. Swan has been appointed Depnty Health Officer of the Port for so long as he continues in partnership with Dr. Jordan or until further notice. It is also notified that Staff Surgeon W. E. Home, R. N., and Surgeon R. T. Gilmour, RN., have been appointed to be temporary Deputy Health Officers.
The following official telegram has been re- ceived by the Government from Rangoon
Rangoon, 13th April, 1898. Colonial Secretary, Hongkong. Hongkong, Macao, and Canton declared infected ports uuder quarantine regulations framed under Venice Convention for Burma ports request that shipping firms may be informed accordingly. Letter follows,- SECRETARY."
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