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hardly coa ceivable that the rich territory which the tribes occupy shall remain unexplored or undeveloped.
NORTHERN NOTES.
The following items are from the P. & T. Times of the 8th inst:-
The Belgians are reported to be negotiating for a Settlement below the German Concession. Several native banks in Peking have re- opened in anticipation of the Court's return and the r. rival of business.
Cholera has broken out in Shensi, and all the officials are very anxious to get away. The Em- rpess Dowager is reported to be sick. Wolf!
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
CORRESPONDENCE.
(We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents.] THE PROPOSED PLAGUE HOSPITAL FOR QUARRY BAY.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE
11
DAILY PRESS.
14th July. SIE,-As responsibility for the rejection by Swire's proposal seems to have rested mainly the Sanitary Board of Messrs. Butterfield and with Dr. Bell, Mr. May and Dr. Clark, with your permission I will venture to criticise the One of the high officials, i.e., presumably of action of these gentlemen, and after doing so the triumvirate, has again censured Li Hung-will leave the public to judge as to whether such chang for delaying the conclusion of the action was founded upon commonsense or not. negotiations.
I will take each of the above members of the Board in turn :—
The Germans are reported to be offering their telephone (P) lines to the Chinese for Tls, 40,000. These lines presumably connect Pao- ting and Peking.
All the troops arriving from Japan to relieve the forces that have been here, are neatly dressed in khaki, and look much better than in their conspicuous white.
Capt. Bancroft, R.W.F., left for England to recruit Lis health on Sunday last, accompanied by his wife, and we hope the voyage will do him the much good he needs.
The Tongshan mines are reported to be working well, the out-put being more than four times what it formerly was, and yet hardly sufficing to meet the demand.
All British troops in Peking, including the Summer Palace, are under the command of Col. A. de V. Alexander, 16th Bengal Lancers, since the departure of Major-General Sir N. Stewart. A report is current to the effect that Yuan Shih-kai has begged the Court to withdraw the Ediot allowing him only 100 days' mourning and asked for the full term of retirement in his native place.
The Allied Villagers in southern Chibli, owing to the Imperial troops being sent to disperse them, have withdrawn to the northern bank of the Yellow River, where they are now in great force.
According to the Chih Pao, Li Hung-chang's troops in Chihli, though nominally intended to deal with with Boxers and rioters, are in reality only being organised as an opposing force to Tung Fuhsiang.
According to the Universal Gazette, secret negotiations are going on between Li Hung. chang and the Russian Government for the transfer of Newchwang to that Power as a recognition for withdrawing her troops.
The President of the Hanlin College has memorialised the Throne correcting the report which was formerly current that the building had been destroyed by the foreign troops. He has declared the work done by the Chinese themselves and that the foreigners on the con- trary tried to save it. We wonder what he will get for his pains.
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of the debate laid particular stress on the point First, Dr. Bell-This speaker in the course
I will take this line of argument, and confine that he was quoting and arguing from facts. my criticisms to fact.
Dr. Bell knows that there is one and only one real objection to Messrs. Butterfield and Swire's application, and that is the risk of infection being spread. Now in the name of commonsense which does Dr. Bell consider the plague collected in one building and under more wise proceeding-to have all the cases of constant observation and treatment, or to have them hidden while an inspector is near, and away! This last is what has admittedly occurred subsequently, when opportunity offers, smuggled over and over again throughout the colony dur- ing the present epidemic, and it is a direct undoing of the labours of the Sanitary Board. This constitutes fact No. 1.
With adequate disinfection of sputum and bedding (which could be done dejecta, effectively at Quarry Bay), and with careful supervision of the cases under treatment, the risk of infection being spread vanishes-wholly, absolutely, and entirely. This, sir, is fact No. 2, and I challenge denial of it, though not perhaps as vigorously as Dr. Ball! Fact No. 3-This supervision could be entrusted to any well- trained student of the Alice Memorial Hospital, who would reside constantly at the proposed Hospital, and would be under the direct control of the manager of the Refinery and the staff of skilled analytical chemists, in addition to Dr. Kwan.
could be relied upon, then I challenge him to If Dr. Bell denies_that_such_supervision give adequate reason for the existence of the Tung Wah branch of the Plague Hospital at Kennedytown, which is only visited at 24 hour intervals by the Medical Officer in charge of Kennedytown Hospital, who cannot be aware of anything that may occur in the interval between his visits
opposed to the application, because the Board Next, Mr. May-This speaker was entirely requires European supervision for the same reason that it requires an European to supervise the Tang Wah and other Plague Hospitals. What is the reason? The speaker failed to point it out.
The "cheerful idiot" as represented by the Court conservatives, accepted the news of the burning of the Wu Yin Hall and documents philosophically, remarking that it was the work of the gods, the Hall having been profaned by Does Mr. May really imagine that the foreigners and being no longer fit for the Son Medical Officer in charge of Kennedytown of Heaven. Thus, then, must they speak of all makes a bacteriological diagnosis of every case the Imperiai buildings in the Capital!
The poll tax is fixed by the Chinese Govern-only logical argument running in his mind in the Tung Wah branch-for this can be the ment at Tl. 1 per male head between the ages when he refers to 50 per cent. of cases in the of 15 and 50. Arrangements are now being Canton native hospitals not being cases of made for the institution of a house tax. In plague at all. Manchan-hsien near Paoting-fu the people have been strongly resisting the imposition of taxes to meet the Government's demands, and threatened to kill the Magistrate and his whole family on a certain date, and he has closed the city gates in great trepidation.
About 11 o'clock on Thursday night, a Fusilier policeman under the influence of drink, ran amnok in Victoria Road, near the Astor House, and narrowly escaped doing serious damage. He fired at some ricksha coolies, and was with the greatest difficulty arrested and disarmed by four or five Fusiliers, with whom ho fought desperately. Capt. Cleveland, who was passing, rendered assistance, and the Provost Marshal was promptly on the soone. The man will probably be pretty severely dealt with.
In this connection I will quote the_words of logical Society in London. The meeting was a speaker at a recent meeting of the Epidemio- held as recently as May 17th, 1901, Dr. Manson occupied the chair, and the subject was the
Diagnosis of Plague" :-
4
olinically any cases of plague he had seen Dr. Cantlis admitted his inability to diagnose in this country except those at Glasgow. Clinical diagnosis is the equivalent of diagnosis from symptoms only, i.e., without bacteriological confirmation.
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[July 20, 1901. 90 per cent. No, Mr. May's arguments will only hold as much water as a Shanghai bath with the plug out!
The next on the list is Dr. Clark. This worthy gentleman did not speak (according to thought, and under the circumstances I think report)." Bilence is golden" perhaps he
it was; for what an extraordiary spectacle is presented to the public gase, Mr. Editor. Here we have the Dean of the School of Medicine for Chinese refusing to recognise the professional qualifications of a diplome of the M.O.H. The inconsistency of it! Is it not School. I had really thought better of our astounding, for Dr. Clark actually holds the post of Lecturer on Public Health at this same College of Medicine! Does he then so under- rate the pupils he himself has trained ?
And yet again more inconsistency, as for some time the Board refused permission to allow Messrs. Butterfield & Swire to disinfect carried out by the staff of skilled analytical their own promises such disinfection to be
is only to be found in Mr. Frank Browne chemists in their employ, men whose equal
and yet I have seen disinfection by the Sanitary Board in the central and crowded districts of the city relegated to a coolie brigade, sometimes under and sometimes not under European supervision. Were there ever such inconsistencies ?
such value as to warrant their denial of the Is this disinfection by the Sanitary Board of right of others to disinfect their own premises ? Was not its worthlessness proved at Wild Dell, through inadequate disinfection ? when European lives were twice endangered
may yet reconsider its decision, and not stultify It is greatly to be hoped, Sir, that the Board itself by refusing to recognise an honest effort to diminish its labours.Yours, &o.,
MEDICUS.
THE INSANITARY POLICE COURT.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY PRESS,'
14th July. SIE,-Some time age the filthy condition of the Supreme Court raised considerable criticism, so much so that at last the authorities bestirred
themselves and had the place cleaned, the carpets being dusted "for the first time in the history of the Court."
Now that the Supreme Court is somewhat cleaned up, I think it is time that attention be turned to the Police Court, the stumest, un- cleanest and most ill-smelling public office in Hongkong-which says a great deal. Take first the so-called "big court" room. Daily from fifty to seventy-five half-naked, unwashed and perspiring Chinese xrowil behind the rail reserved for native spectators. Then the top windows are closed, and there is not a breath of air, except what is produced by a punkah lasily like a sheep-pen, and you can imagine what pulled. The prisoners' box is likewise crowded eduvia arise therefrom. The “small court" is just as bad. In fact, both rooms are unsuited for the purpose for which they are used, being too small and not sufficiently ventilated. But if
the authorities cannot afford to have larger and better furnished rooms for the today hi sin, na in Singapore or Shanghai, why in the name of common sense are all the windows kept shut?
Again, the verandah is overcrowded daily with the friends of delinquents, and even there the smell is often something awful. And the solution of chloride of lime which is sprinkled three or four times a day over this some verandah, though no doubt a good disinfectant, when mingling with the smell emanating from the unwashed humanity around, is certainly anything but pleasing.
Were the court room and verandah foors dally well washed out, a few electric fans put into the rooms, and the top windows kept open, it would make the place a little less obnoxious to those who have the misfortune of daily hav ing business there. As it is the place is certainly not a thing of beauty or joy, but a disgrace to the colony-Yours, ete,
VENTILATOR.
Now wherein does Mr. May's objection to Dr. Kwan lie? Surely if European doctors are not infallible is it to be expected that Dr. Kwan should be so? Seeing that the majority Mr. A. Horie, H. M. Consul at Nowchwang, of Chinese cases are well marked, would not. I left Shanghai for his post by the Canton on Dr. Kwan be capable of diagnosing at least over the morning of the 11th inst.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.