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Petition was drafted so carelessly as to seriously misrepresent facts.
were
Considering the high position which the authors of the Memorandum hold in the Government service, the authorities at home after reading it could hardly come to any other conclusion than that the Petitioners mistaken and that their representations were based upon want of knowledge, and as the Memorandum itself contains statements which in my opinion are calculated to mislead, in justice to the Sanitary Board I beg to ask His Excellency the Governor's perusal of the enclosed statement 8.8 well as of the Returns concerning additional markets, latrines and urinals, which at my request was submitted to the Sanitary Board on 7th August last
I have also the honour to ask that the same publicity may be given to both as has been given to the Memorandum on Petition.
The Extracts and other particulars which I have given were obtained from the Secretary of the Sanitary Board with the sanction of its
President.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
EDWARD Osborne,
Member of the Sanitary Board. The Hon. J. H. STEWART LOCKHART, C.M.G.,
Colonial Secretary,
Hongkong.
MEMORANDUM-PAR, 4.
It was Mr. Chadwick who first suggested the separate system of drainage in part, and finally endorsed its adoption for the whole city. The supply of water is sufficient for the purposes of that system and the necessary flush- ing tanks have been provided.
REMARKS.
Mr. Osbert Chadwick in his Report dated 1882 wrote: "Artificial flushing should therefore be provided. It will not be necessary to use water from the waterworks for this purpose. The perennial flow of the nullahs will in most cases suffice."
On May 30th, 1901, it was resolved "That the Board recommend the Government to utilise all the fresh water which now runs to waste in the trained and untrained nullahs of the City by building dams and forming tanks for the sewers and storm-water drains.”
This resolution Was seconded by tho Acting Director of Public Works, one of the signatories of the Memorandum, and carried ananimously,
That the necessary number of flushing tanks have not been provided is evidenced by the foul smells emanating from the sewers on the lower levels.
MEMORANDUM-PAR. 4.
Dr. Clark agreed to the restriction as to the height of buildings made to apply only to houses erected on land sold after the passing
of the Ordinance (34 of 1899).
REMARKS.
At the meeting of the Sanitary Board held on September 14th, 1899, it was resolved:-
"That a letter be written to the Government to the effect that the Board advocated the reduction in the height of buildings, on the ground that the best preventive of plague is the admission of light and air into dwellings, but they are unable to prove by statistics that the inclusion of Section 6 (a) will offeo- tually check the spread of the disease. To avoid any further delay, however, the Board in these circumstances are prepared to acquiesce in an amendment of Seo. 6 (a) to read as follows:-'No building erected on land acquired from the Crown after the passing of this Ordinance shall exceed in height one and a half times the width of the street upon which sach building fronts.'
It is clear from the above that the Board were forced into acquiescence in order to avoid further delay in the matter; the Board's original recommendation having been made in June, 1898. MEMORANDUM-PAR. 6.
The statement quoted in par. 9, that Mr. Chadwick had recommended that the ground surfaces ofjall dwellings should be concreted and that such concreting was not required till 1894, is inaccurate.
REMARKS.
Par. 171 of Mr. Chadwick's report: "Earthen floors should be prohibited. All should at least be paved with tiles, bedded in concrete." Until
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
1894 the law allowed floors to be covered with tiles laid on earth, the concreting being appar- ently optional.
MEMORANDUM-PAR. 6.
In 1894 the financial condition of the Colony appeared to the Unofficial Members to be in such an unsatisfactory state that they asked for and obtained a Committee with a view to effecting retrenchments. It is difficult, there fore, to see how an Improvement Fund could have been created except by a further loan or by increased taxation.
REMARKS.
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[August 26, 1901.
MEMORANDUM.PAR. 10. "As to the want of urinal accommodation referred to in par. 12, steps have been taken this year to further increase the accommoda- tion."
BEMARKS.
The further increase cannot be said to have come too soon, as there are only four one-man urinals in the City, for a male population of about 140,000.
MEMORANDʊm-par, 13.
is
It is worth noting that from the 6th May, 1899, up to the 9th August, 1900, no fewer than The Sanitary Board did not ask for an Im-31 houses have been closed either in whole or provement Fund till 1st March, 1900, when the in part as unfit for human habitation at the finances of the Colony were in a flourishing instano. of the Medical Officer of Health condition. One of the signatories of the under the powers referred to, but that that Memorandum was himself a prime mover in officer had not previously taken any action in this question of a Trust Fund.
this direction till reminded of these powers by H.E, the Governor.
MEMORANDUM - PAR. 7.
"With regard to par. 10, it may be noted that there was no necessity to offer a premium for the best design of Chinese house, because several designs have been gratuitously offered." REMARKS.
So far as the Members of the Sanitary Board and the public are aware, these gratuitous designs were not offered until nineteen months after the Board had recommended the offer of a premiam. The recommendation was made 26th October, 1899, and Mr. Turner's design was submitted to the Board on 30th May, 1901. MEMORANDUM-PAR. 8.
The complaints referred to (viz., hawking) were made by an individual member of the Sanitary Board and on investigation were found, as far as any actual nuisance was con- cerned, to be exaggerated.
REMARKS.
The hawking nuisance was reported on by Messrs. McKie and Osborne, the Quarterly Inspection Committee, in their report dated 20th December, 1900, and their remarks were supported by a majority of the Board.
MEMORANDUM-PAR, 9.
+
And the only remedy (referring to the foul- the ing of the drains) appears to be more effective control of the hawking of vege- tables, sugar cane and fruit in the streets.”
REMARKS.
In par. 8 of the Memorandum it is stated that the complaints as to hawking in the streets, on investigation, were found, as far as any actual nuisance was concerned, to be exaggerated.
MEMORANDUM-PAR. 10.
Regarding the latrine at Shok Tong-tsui, it was not an entirely new latrine.
that was recommended at the end of 1896, but an enlargement of the already existing latrine at that spot.
REMARKS.
Extract from the minutes of a meeting the
44
Sanitary Board held on November 5th, 1896:- That a letter be addressed to the Colonial Secretary requesting that a latrine of twenty seats be erected at as early a date as practicable, in the immediate vicinity of the existing dilapi- dated structure adjoining the site of the old Slaughter-House."
It was therefore an entirely new litrine which was asked for.
MEMORANDUM-PAR. 10.
The Sanitary Board asked the Government in December, 1896, to put up a latrine at this spot (Kowloon Point) and in January, 1897, addressed the Wharf and Godown Company on the subject of providing increased latrine The accommodation for their employees. question of erecting a Government latrine was postponed pending the passing of the Ordin. ance referred to; since the passing of the Ordinance the Sanitary Board has not made any formal application under the Ordinance for a site in this locality to be set aside for a latrine, perhaps because the existence of a privately owned latrine rendered the necessity less urgent
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REMARKS.
The minutes of the Sanitary Board show that the Medical Officer of Health reported houses to the Sanitary Board as unfit for human habita- tion on the following dates:-27th February, 1896, 10th September, 1898. 30th September, 1897, 10th March, 1898, 3rd November, 1898, 2nd March, 1899. I learn, moreover, that during the year 1900, 4,149 nuisance notices were served by the Board, in respect to insanitary properties.
**
MEMORANDUM PAR.. 14.
Nevertheless we deem it right to point out that under Ordinance No. 9 of 1867, Section 14, Dr. Ayres had very considerable powers which we cannot find any record of his having ever utilised."
REMARKS.
In the annual report for 1881 of the Colonial Surgeon will be found records of prosecutions in respect of the insanitary condition of pre- mises, showing 252 prosecutions and 222 convictions. The Report for 1882 shows 162 prosecutions and 142 convictions.
MEMORANDUM-PAR. 16.
In spite of the many workers and of the most drastic remedies, the epidemic, though undoubtedly confined within” narrow limits, was not got under one day sooner than it ceased of its own accord in the neighbouring City of Canton.
BIMARKS.
Neither the Government nor the Sanitary Board nor the authors of the Memorandum could possibly have had any reliable particulara from Canton concerning plague, the only alleged source of information being the coffin shops. To be able to confine an epidemic of plague within any limits at all supports Dr. Lowson's statement quoted in par. 16 of the Memorandum.
MEMORADUM-PAB. 16. Regarding the alleged insuficiency of Sani- tary Staff, it was in consequence of a recom. mendation made in 1893 by ʼn Select Committee of the Sanitary Board based upon a report by Dr. Clark himself that the number of Inspectors was fixed at 20.
Mr. Osborne, a member of the Sanitary Bard then and now, must have been also satisfied that an Inspector's visit at least once in two months to each floor of his district was reasonably sufficient.
REMARKS.
Extract from Mr. Osborne's speech at the Sanitary Board meeting held on (28th Septem- ber, 1899:-
"From the figures given me by the Medical Officer of health it would appear that there are about 2,000 floors in each district and these floors are supposed to be visited once every two months-taking into account the number of floors to be visited and the time at the disposal of the Inspectors, it works out according to my figures to something like 24 minutes per floor. That is to say, the Inspector in these awful summer months can only visit each floor once every two months and cannot spend more That is a physical The Sanitary Board decided to address the than 24 minutes in sach. Government and the Godown Company at the impossibility. I defy the strongest man to do same meeting, namely, on December 17th, 1896. it, not only in 21 minutes, but in four times that This shows that the Sanitary Board did not period. I argned from that that there were not contemplate that the Wharf and Godown | sufficient men to do the work. On these grounds Company's latrine should be used by the large I considered there ought to be more men. number of coolies travelling by the Ferry, now amounting to over 10,000 per day, nor for the growing Chinese population of Kowloon Point.
REMARKS.
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“From the figures which I worked out I make out that we should require a great many more men, but of course I know it is no nos asking
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