Angust 17, 1901.]
mercenary, one
nor
It will neither. be a selfish one. It will consist in distribut ing blessings of health to those nearest and dearest to us, and when epidemice rage around us in other countries we will dwell secure in our fortress of cleanliness.
What an orator Mr. Ackroyd was. Imagine, ye gods, Hongkong “as a fortress of clean. liness!" His remarks form a splendid homily for our present Government to profit by. He was unfortunately prophetic in saying:
In speaking of the necessity of taking measures at once we must remember that our negligence in sanitary matters has not yet produced all its effects. We have not felt the result yet.
These results do not show themselves at once, but things will go on from bad to worse, and what is easy to cure now will be difficult if not impossible
later on.
cure.
19
ca83
Mr. Ackroyd then addressed the Council on the advantage of observing "the good oll maxim that 'prevention is better than Were he here now as public pro- secutor, he would hare &
Fery fair against the Government for ignoring his warn ing. So far in the progress of the Bill for which he so earnestly pleaded, the case of laisser faire is against the Government in having per mitted auch a condition of things to exist, not against the Unofficials, as Mr. May states. The Bill was read a first time unanimously.
It is interesting to compare Mr. Ackroyd's admonitions with the following remarks on the futility of Unofficial effort, as exemplified even on the Sanitary Board, made by Mr. Osborne at a meeting of that body of the 3rd January, 1901 fourteen years later. In reply to a question of Mr. May, Mr. Osborne pointed out that :-
It is because we fear, and have good reason to fear, that our re ommendations will be ignored, our proposals rejected, and our labour wasted. Let the Government support the Board in its efforts to cleanse the slums of their Allth, to im- prove the surroundings of the working classes, in whose cheap labour lies the keystone of Hong- kong commercial progress. Let the Government give tangible proof of its sympathy in our crusade against plague, awake from its apathy in regard to the serious questions of overcrowding and burdensome rents--apathy which finds illustration in the Taipingshan resumed area, where land has lain waste for years past, because Government will neither build on it nor sell at a price which will enable private enterprise to do so. Let the Government do these things, and there will be no lack of responsive energy on our part. But until some such assurance be forthcoming, until we can be satisfied that our labour is not in vain, 1 for one, and I think other members of this Board are with me, have neither the desire nor the
intention of occupying myself in the preparation of elaborate reports, the utility of which will be ignored and their value unappreciated.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT. pointed ont " that a great many people had not | signed the Memorial presented, and he himself | knew a good many people who had refused to sign it. He hoped the Bill would be pushed for. ward at once, but at the same time the question | of compensation should be dealt with, and he hoped before the second reading the Govern. ment would give information on that point." The average reader can therefore judge for himself the extent of the alleged public opposi tion to this scheme !
The opposition commenced on the sr- rival of Governor Cameron, who attempted to rush the Bill through; when a portion of the public objected to it in the form it was then presented. The Bill had really been drafted by the Sanitary Board, and in commenting on it the Daily Press of 11th May, 1887, said :-
That the Public Health Bill will pass the Legislative Council in its present form is beyond all points of possibility. That a Public Health Bill is urgently needed is conceded on all hands, It is incumbent upon the Government to have a new Bill prepared as soon as possible-a Bill which, leaving aside the light of impracticable schemes of the present ono, shall embody all the good points in a workable shape.
The Attorney-General, admitted that the matter had been rashed, and the Surveyor- General said the authorship of the Bill was mainly attributable to the Sanitary Board. So much, therefore, for Mr. May's charge against the Daily Press and the Public of unreasonable opposition to the Bill.
Mr. May also cites the Unofficial Opposition in Council to the Closed Houses and Insanitary Dwellings Ordinance. This was the opposition of the landlords, sad Mr. May is well aware that the Sanitary Board was unanimously in favour of the Bill, and the public also who were
not landlords.
The joint-authors in their Memorandum state :-
In paragraph 7, the Petitioners complain by implication of the want of public baths.
We would point out that in comparatively few cities are public baths provided. In many, as in Shanghai for example, they are provided by private enterprise. It is true that Public Bath- houses have not been built here till the current year, when they were undertaken on the Governor's own initiative.
The class of public bath indicated by Mr. Chadwick existed in Manila in the Spanish days. It is valuable information to learn that baths for such purposes are provided by private enterprise in Shanghai, and I am sure the Committee of the Shanghai Swimming Club will appreciate the reference. There is one small swimming bath at Shanghai owned by a club of necessarily small membership The baths recommended here--and only initiated last year in the form of matshed erections were not exactly swimming baths, and were instituted to see if the grimy unwashed
and coal cargo-coolies would them after their day's labour. No public bathing facilities exist in this colony for the many people unable to afford steam-launch trips, and the matshed washing-houses for coolies, which suddenly sprang into existence twenty-one years after th expert recommended them, should be greatly increased, and be made per manent buildings.
UNO
In par. 18, the Trio refer to inoculation as a prophylactic measure against plague-pointing out the Chinese would not avail themselves
|
of it. As a matter of fact the Government never gave the Chinese, or the Europeans, the chance, for when the plague was at its worst this year there was not a tube of new plague serum in the colony, excepting some possessed by a local French physician!
|
The Authors also state in the same para- graph:-
*
While on the subject of the power of the Sanitary Board to deal with an epidemic, we would venture to point out that although the Board has no spending power, the statement in paragraph & that " it is not in any way responsible for the overcrowded and insanitary condition of Hongkong," and that "it is not permitted to exercise any control whatever over its sub ordinates," is not correct. The Board has the same control over its subordinate officers as any other Governmont Department has.
The Unofficial members of the Sanitary Board are about to answer the Three Officials for themselves, that is when Messrs Chatham and May can pluck up sufficient courage to allow Mr. Osborne to obtain the information he has asked for, which they have really no power to withhold.
147
I refer the three Exponents of Truth to the recommendations of that officer as reported in the Hongkong Daily Press of 11th September, 1896, 1st October, 1897, and 4th November, 1898.
In par. 14 it is alleged that the late Dr. Ayres did not use the power he possessed to close insanitary buildings. This is also untrue, Dr. Ayres with Dr. Hartigan tried to do this, in connection with the old No. 5 Police Station near the old cemetery. These medical men, under the authority of that power which the late Colonial Surgeon is accused of never having used, wrote in about it, but their protest was ignored by the Government.
Pars. 15 and 16 are devoted to repudiating the opinions and recommendations of Dr. Lowson, as quoted by the Petitioners. It is a curious spec. tacle to see three laymen setting up their opinion against the medical man who had charge of the plague work in 1894; and while most people will admire their assurance, they will prefer to accept the statements of the Medical Officer, whose valuable and comprehensive report was approved by the Government and published in the Govern ment Gazette. The Trio even go so far as to state the following:
In spite of the many workers and of the most drastic measures the epidemic, thongh undoubt- edly confined within narrower limits, was not "got under one day sooner than it coased of its own accord in the neighbouring City of Canton,
where no steps whatever were takin to combat the plague.
They omit to give their authorily for this, which would be of infinite vain. They also, on the face of it, allege that “an assistant" is employed to do the harbour medical work, which is misleading Mr. Chamberlain, inasmuch that they forget to state that such work only forms part of that doctor's duties. They also state that "the medical officer's duties at the gaol occupy about one hour a day." If this be true, and I much doubt it, then the heary mortality in the gaol is not sur- prising! They also give the frat intimation of an assistant medical officer having been engaged, and conclude with a pathetic para- graph, summing up, from their polat of view, the situation. The last few lines are really worth quoting:-
|
It is unfortuate that the Petition as worded is not more worthy of the good cause-the im- proved sanitation of Hongkong-it purports to serve. Every resident who has the welfare of the colony at heart must be in favour of that cause and it would be a benighted Government that refused to do all in its power to advance it. But the sanitary improvement of the colony in the future is not likely to be secured by misrepresenting its sanitary history in the past.
I have just been informed, on very good authority, that the Official Trio responsible for this precious document were unawate, when they concocted it, that it was intended for publication. They believed their Memor andum would be treated as a confidential despatch to Mr. Chamberlain. If that is correct, then I offer them a profound apology for commenting on what they cone ired would be a private dispatch. It explains a good deal, for there are so many statements in it which cannot stand public criticism Their statement quoted "that the Peti- tion is not worthy of the good cRUSO is
■ complete admission on their part that such a cause exista., Whether the Peti- tioners or the Trio have erred in details, is of secondary importance--the Petitioners stated the cause did exist and the Apologista The allusion to the Sanitary Board's "control" have thus admitted it!. As to the "benighted over its officers is distinctly amusing. There Government," etc., may I refer it to the is not an officer on that Board who is not con prophecies of Mr. Ackroyd quoted else. trolled directly and indirectly by the Govern-where. That the “Sanitation," or even the ment, and no one knows this better than general improvement" of this colony is not the Supt. of Police, who has personally likely to be served by misrepresentation, I res- arrogated to himself other responsibilities in pootfully concur. The charges of the Peti- connection with that Board, which are known tioners were based on the personal experience of to most people. I hope in a few days to be able the community and substantiated by quotations to publish a tale of sesudalous treatment of one from departmental reports The Trio, led officer of that Board which will surprise most by H. E. the Governor, may deny those people, who imagined that “Star Chamber" charges, and "sooff at the opinions of those doings were matters of a remote past.
Micials responsible for the quotations, but the
Dr. Ho Kai's protest next came into evidence, representing the feelings of the Chinese, to which the Hongkong Government has ever been strikingly susceptible. His protest met with a rejoinder from the Sanitary Board presented to the Council on 27th May, 1887.- Then a Memo- rial against it was presented to Council, and Mr. May points out that “the late Mr. Gran- ville Sharp mid the Memorial was signed by the whole community." This, as Mr. May In the same paragraph there is an attack knows well, was untrue. The Memorial was on the Medical Oficer of Health, who is scowed signed by only 113 foreigners and about the of nerer having taken any action in the closing same number of Chinese, and Mr. May would of houses unit for human habitation “til have only been acting fairly had he also quoted | reminded of those powers by H.E. the Gorer- Mr. MacEwen, who, in opposition to Mr. Sharp, nor,” the mid remainder dating from May, 1899,
remains that they are on record, and in the matter of thé - inanitary condition of
i colony, the caso simply resolves itself into the opinions of three men vergue the statement of medical oficials and the united complaints of community, H.E. the Governor · ka
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