:
April 15, 1899.|
whisky, and found all genuine excepting one of brandy.
THE PLAGUE.
A return from Bombay city showed that on March 13th there were 238 cases of bubonic plague reported there and 131 deaths.
The mortality statistics for the Colony of Hongkong for the week ended April 1st showed a death rate of 15'8, against 14.8 for the pre- vious week, and 294 for the corresponding week last year. The rate for the following week was 23-8 against 317 for the correspond. ing week last year.
Daring the week ended March 19th there were 39 deaths in Macao, and 34 during the follow. ing week.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
These figures have been calculated from the monthly Reports issued by the Director of the Hongkong Observatory; the temperatures were taken at 108 feet above mean sea-level and at 4 feet above the grass.
GENERAL SANITARY CONDITION,
was
80
The British Consul at Taiuan reported that in The provisions of the Public Health Ordin- the prefecture from March 21st to March 27th ance (No. 24 of 1887) and of the Insanitary (both dates inclusive) 209 cases of plague occur. Properties Ordinance (No. 15 of 1894) have red, with 144 deaths and 11 recoveries. From been steadily enforced throughout the year, Jan. 7th to March 27th there had been 677 cases and it cannot be denied that the sanitary condi- of plague, with 474 deaths and 52 recoveries. tion of the three or four hundred new bouses The British Consul at Swatow reported on which have been erected during the year shows a the evidence of the consular surgeon that there vast improvement upon that of the buildings was no trace of bubonic plague in Swatow itself, which were erected prior to the passing of the but that it had been heard of in places a dis-latter Ordinance, but I regret to say that the Lance of about 20 miles off,
laws of this Colony still permit of the erection of back to back houses, which are universally admitted to be unhealthy, and the prohibition of the further erection of which strongly urged by Mr. Osbert Chadwick, as far back as 1882, and by many others since that date. The provision of open spaces in the rear of buildings is an absolute necessity to render them suitable as humau habitations, and yet the whole city of Victoria, with the exception of the Taipingshan resumed area and the Praya Reclamation, might, under the existing laws, be rebuilt without a single backyard, area or open space attached to any house; and although the Architects do their best, I know, to persuade property owners to provide these open areas, yet it not infre- quently happens that a penirious landowner insists upon the whole of his land being covered by bricks and mortar, and a roof, to the great detriment, not only of his own, but also of his neighbour's property, and to the great injury to the health of all future occupants. The Model bye-laws which were drawn up by the Local Government Board many years ago, and which have been very generally adopted by Sanitary Authorities at home, require a minimum open space, exclusively belonging to each house, of 150 square feet in area, and although I am quite willing to admit that there are special circumstances connected with erection of dom. estic buildings for Chinese which would render this requirement excessive in some cases, yet there can be no doubt that legislation is urg- ently needed to secure some provision of this nature in respect of all houses that may be erected in the future.
Mr. OSBORNE pointed out that there was some slight increase in the cases of plague. Not- withstanding that they drew attention at their previous meeting to the law respecting the cleansing and lime-washing of premises there had been only 425 tenements lime-washed dur ing the last 14 days in the Central District. There were 43 lime-washed before that, making a total of 468 tenements lime-washed up to the 13th April out of 8 total of 2,649, which left 2,177 anatteuded to. With a view to again warning householders he would propose that an advertisement be inserted in one European paper and one Chinese paper re- minding them that their premises should be lime-washed by the end of April.
Dr. CLARK, in seconding, said that many more houses would have been lime-washed during the past fortnight bad it not been for the scarcity of water. During the last fortnight there had been 23 cases of plague as compared with 12 for the previous fortnight. On the suggestion of H.E. the Governor between 700 and 800 rats had been caught by the officers of the Board during the mouth of March.
The motion was carried. This was all the business.
THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH'S REPORT.
The report of Dr. F. W. Clark, Medical Officer of Health, for last year was laid on the table at the meeting of the Sanitary Board on the 13th April.
AREA.
Under this heading particulars are given of the area of the colony and the number of dwel- lings. There was an increase upon the previous year of 64 European dwellings and 282 Chinese dwellings.
CLIMATE,
The average monthly temperature through- out the year has been 72.2 degrees F as com- pared with 71.7 degrees F daring 1897; the maximum monthly temperature was attained in July, when it reached 81.7 degrees F, and the minimum monthly temperature was recorded in the month of January, being 30.1 degrees F, as compared with 54.2 degrees F in 1897. The highest recorded temperature wae 91.5 degrees Fon May 30th, and the lowest was 16.1 degrees F on the 25th January.
The total rainfall for the year was 57.025 inches as compared with 100.03 inches during 1897; the wettest months were June with 14.25 inches and Angust with 9.9 inches, and the driest was December with 0.025 inch. The greatest amount of rain which fell on any one day was 2.585 inches on August 25th, while no rain fell on 213 days of the year; the relative humidity of the atmosphere throughout the year was 74.6 per cent, being lowest in Decem- ber, when it stood at 52 per cent, and highest in May and June when it stood at 83 per cont. The average daily amount of sunshine through- out the year was 5.8 hours as compared with 4.78 during the previous year; on 41 days only was no sunshine recorded.
15
The compulsory provision of open spaces in connection with existing dwellings is a somewhat more difficult problem, but I have no hesitation in saying that most of the Chinese dwellings in the city of Victoria would, if they existed at home, be at once condemned as "unfit for human under the Housing of the Working Classes Act, and it is only necessary to quote the opening paragraph of the report of the insanitary properties Commission, issued last year, to show how urgent is the necessity for some definite and prompt action on the part of the Government.
habitation
This paragraph reads-
44
We regret to have to report that there are many insanitary properties in the colony and dwellings which, in their present condition, are pufit for human habitation. The back portions of a number of the houses visited by us are dark, ill-ventilated, extremely dirty, and in some cases mere dens of filth. The interior of the cubicles or sub-divisons of the living rooms was such that in the great majority of cases their contents could be seen only by the aid of an artificial light.”
It is hardly necessary to argue that if dwell- ing-rooms, occupied by Chinese of the coolie class, are dark, it is impossible for any staff of Inspectors to ensure their being kept in a cleanly condition, and although the present state of the dwellings in the city compares most favourably with that which obtained only some four or five years ago, yet it is indeed an almost hopeless task to seek for cleanliness with 8 Lull's eye lantern in the almost Cimmerian darkness of the typical Chinese tenement dwelling.
There is still most urgent necessity through. out the Colony, and especially in the City of Victoria, for many additional free public latrines and urinals; provision was, I believe, made for the erection of two additional latrines in the city during the ensuing year; these would not, however, have sufficed even to keep pace
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with the rapid increase in the population, to that the city would have been no better off than heretofore, but unfortunately the exponditure upon these has been disallowed, so that the 'con- dition of the city in this respect is rapidly becoming worse.
No provision whatever has been made for the erection of additional urinals, either for Europe- ang or for Chinese, although only three public urinals at present exist in the city for amale population of about 125,000. Many are the complaints of the offensive smell of urine în side and back lanes, and from the gully traps in the streets throughout the city, but so long as no provision is made, in this respect, for the thousands of coolies who daily traverse these streets, I fail to see what other result can be expected, or in what way this undoubted nuisance can be prevented.
POPULATION,
in
Under this heading details are given of the various sections of the population. In the ten health districts of the city of Victoria the number of persons per acre varied from 15.6 in No. 1 district to 982.3 in No. 5, the average being 113.1. Dr. Clark says:-From this it will be seen that No. 3 health district, which is situated in the centre of the city, shows acute surface crowding, while districts 6, 7 and 4 are almost ag densely crowded. The most densely populated metropolitan districts of the city of London are St. James's, Westminster, Whitechapel and St. George's in the East, but none of those had a population of more than 200 persons to the acre în 1891.
BIRTHS.
A table is given showing the number of births, namely, Chinese, 592 males and 371 females, Non-Chinese, White, 100 males and 78 females, and coloured, 40 males and 25 females. Dr. Clark about the birthrate of this Colony is the great saysThe most remarkable feature, however, preponderance of male over female births; in Great Britain and in temperate climates generally the proportion is 104 male births to every 100 female births, but in this Colony the proportion is, among the white races, no less than 128 male births to 100 female births. The preponderance of male births over female births is not nearly so marked among the Chinese as among the white inhabitants, but yet the ratio stands at 117 to 100, which is greatly in excess of what obtains in Europe.
DEATHS.
The total number of deaths registered during the year was 5,674 as compared with 4,688 dur. ing 1897 and 5,860 during 1896. The death- rate for 1898 was therefore 22.3 per 1,000, as compared with 18.85 during the previous year and an average of 23 per 1,000 during the preceeding five years (exclusive of. 1894). These deaths, however, include no less than 1,175 from Bubonic Fever (Plague), and if these are omitted the death-rate appears at 17.7 per 1,000. The total number of deaths among the Chinese was 5,383, which is equal to a death-rate of 22.5 per 1,000.
The deaths registered among the Non-Chi- nese community were 291, of which 200 were among the white races and 91 smong the coloured. The deaths among Non-Chinese include 49 deaths from Bubonic Fever, and the total death-rate among the white races was 16.2 per 1,000, and among the coloured races was 33.6 per 1,000.
MALARIAL FEVER -AMONG THE TROOPS, One of the tables given under the head- ing of "Deaths " shows the mortality ✨ amongst the troops, and in connection with this Dr. Clark says:—This shows a loss of something over 7 per 1,000 per annum among British troops, from malarial diseases alona-a sufficiently high death-rate to warrant active measures of protection on the part of the mill- tary authorities. The pure white civilian popu- lation of the Colony (ie., not including the locally-born Portuguese) numbers nearly double that of the British troops, and yet only three deaths from malariat diseases occurred among them during the year, two being old men, aged 67 and 70 respectively, and the third, a lad of
nine years.
EMPLOYMENT OF NATIVE DOCTORS. RECOMMENDED,
Dr. Clark writes:-During the year there were
Under the heading of “Uncertified Deaths!^;
641 deaths of Chinese who were not attended by
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