298
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND distant date to resume his duties with the Police and the Brigade.
I
disposition while residing in his own home. The offer was not accepted, on the ground that Mr. Lopez would not take the oath of allegiance. As the fire progressed it was seen that the Since then he has made two attempts to land in block of building between Chater Road and Manila, on each occasion without success. In the Water Police Basin, on the northern conclusion one could not do better than quote side, was doomed; indeed, it seemed probable again from a correspondent of the Republi- at one time that the coolie-houses to the extreme can:-" Sixto Lopez was over here working for north of the godowns fronting Macdonnell Road would be involved. By dint of hard Filipino independence, and the best way to punish the traitor was to punish his family and work on the part of the Brigade and the servants, until he came into the reservation Bluejackets this was avoided. The walls of the and became a good Injun.' That a low, ignor-godowns facing these houses were pulled down ant, cruel, revengeful human savage should use and further catastrophe was thus prevented. such methods to gratify spite is not strange; When the fire got to a head thousands but that a great nation, posing as the most of Europeans and Chinese had congregated in civilised and enlightened.
ready to the locality to watch the conflagration. So criticise others for cruelty, should adopt such dense did the crowd become that Inspector a policy to subjugate a brave people fighting Langley of Tsimshatsui Police Station had to for self-government is-well. I won't say any call in the services of the Indian regiments to preserve order and regulate the crowd. Every more, for unfortunately. I belong to that nation. If the story of the Lopez family is the only now and then explosions occurred in the burning history of the war we are ever to have, it ought building and it was not until about half-past
five that the last of these took place. to be widely circulated."
ever
The godowns which were destroyed or damaged extend from Chater Road on the west
GREAT FIRE AT KOWLOON to the Water Police Basin on the east. On the
GODOWNS DESTROYED HEAVY EXPLOSIONS..
every
half-hour
[April 18, 1904.
HONGKONG'S HEALTH IN 1903.
The report of the Hon. Dr. J. M. Atkinson, Principal Civil Medical Officer, on the health and sanitary condition of the Colony of Hong- kong for 1903 is published in the Gazette. We make the following extracts :-
POPULATION.
The estimated population of the Colony for 1903 was 325,631. There were 1,034 births and 6,185 deaths, 1.251 of which were from plague. The birth-rate was 3.17 per 1,000, as compared with 3.8 per 1,000 in 1903. The death-rate was 18.9 per 1.000, as compared with 21.7 in 1902. The following figures will show the comparison of the death-rate in the Chinese and Non- Chinese during the past two years:→
1902.
1903.
Non-Chinese...19.00 per 1,000 16.6 per 1,000 Chinese
•
21.93-
19.1 PREVALENCE OF SICKNESS In the different seasons of the year, and general character as to the mildness or severity of the diseases prevailing.
Small-pox.-Sixty cases were notified, as com- pared with 57 in 1902. The greater majority of these, namely 53, occurred in the first five months of the year.
Cholera. There was a remarkable immunity from cholera as compared with previous year, only 10 cases being notified. against 460 in 1902.
east side of the block the Bluejackets were par- ticularly active: they got out many tons of On the 00th inst. shortly after three o'clock material stored there and got in hoses to keep Hongkong was startled by a big explosion: it down the flames, which were forcing their way was too big for a birthday salute or for the through from the other side. When the explo-
sions occurred-which they did customary gunfire which marks the entrance into the Harbour of a man-of-war of whatever or so there was a general scurry on the part of Plague.-This disease again occurred in an nationality. When enquiries were made it was the spectators for shelter. as bricks, broken epidemic form. 1.415 cases being notified, as found that the explosion had emanated from woodwork, stones, and tiles were falling all compared with 572 in 1902. As will be seen the godowns of the Hongkong and Kowloon directions, not to mention that, whenever the from the following table, the outbreak commenc- Wharf and Godown Company, Ld., where a fire word was passed for a stampede away from fall-ed early in the year; it attained its height in the had broken out some half-hour previously. The ing walls, the firemen who had been ordered month of May, and, as is usually the case, a explosion attracted the attention of thousands of to get away from the dangerous proximity marked decline occurred as soon as the mean the residents on the Hongkong side and when turned their hoses promiscuously on friend and temperature reached 82 deg. F. smoke and flames were seen issuing from the foe. It may be mentioned that as one Naval Company's buildings, the Star Ferry launches party was making its way to the scene of the were crowded to their utmost capacity by those fire the boat capsized and all were thrown into desirous of being 8.5
as possible to the water. They had, of course, to work away in the scene of the disaster.
their wet clothes and it would not have mattered When the explosion occurred very few people after a few minutes' manipulation of the hoses knew that that such a thing as a fire had taken whether they had come wet or dry, for they
in But. riewed from would have been wet through place at the godowns. Hongkong. it was evident that a big fire was little while.
A visit to the It appears that the outbreak in progress.
situated occurred in a godown. No. in Chater Rood. When it was discovered the Fire Brigade were at once notified and it
near
was not long before they were on the scene with engines and floaters under the charge of Mr. E. R. Hallifax. Deputy Captain of Police Before the Brigade were able to bring their force to bear on the particular part of the godowns which was in flames. the fire had spread to Godown No. 21. This godown apparently was stored with merchandise and goods of the most inflammable character possible--kerosene. crackers, percussion-caps. candles. saltpetre. and opium being among the materials lodged there.
Shortly after three o'clock a tremendous explosion occurred in the godown which had been last involved. A great sheet of flame was thrown skywards some 300 fleet high while voluminous clouds of smoke ascended from the building and enshrouded the locality in blinding mist. Bricks, and charred logs were flung about like so many pebbles, windows were shattered, and in some cases crockery standing on the tables of houses in the neighbourhood was broken by the shock. In Tsimshatsui Police Station several plates of glass were broken and china-ware was destroyed. All over Kowloon the shock was felt, and in Hongkong even there was distinct appreciation of the disturbance. When the Brigade got over to the other side they very soon set the engines to work finding willing helpers in the ranks of the Blue- jackets who had been sent from H. M. ships in Harbour to assist in fighting with the flames. The seamen indeed, did yeoman. service. Lieut Macdonald was in command.
From No. 22 the fire spread to No. 21 (as already stated) and it was then that the big explosion of the day occurred. When the report made itself heard one and all rushed fox shelter, and luckily nearly everybody got away in time. Sergt. Perkins was one of those who were unfortunate enough to be caught by the falling debris; he had to be taken to hospital suffering from severe burning injuries to his foot;
and it is to be hoped that this energetic and popular officer will be able at no
|
The following table gives the number of cases reported in each month of the last two years:-
1902.
January February March
४
very
April
May
June.
Kowloon of the scene fire
the on
following day
was sufficient to show the seriousness of the disaster which had occurred.. In the Police Basin to the east of the godowns that were des- troyed great beams of wood were scattered about, having been blown into the air and thrown in some instances one hundred yards away. It was not until yesterday that the fire was ultimately got under. Even as late as last evening the buildings were still smouldering. Gangs of coolies were engaged in carrying out from the godowns débris consisting of matches. crackers, saltpetre. bottles of oil, tins of kerosene, opium and various kinds of acid. It appears that the three godowns which were destroyed were used for the storage of dangerous. in- flammable goods. Insurance, it is said. covered them under the South British Company, and some dozen insurance companies are stated to be involved in liability for the goods stored in be the godowns. No proper conception can gathered of the extent of the damage; it is
from estimated at
$100.000 to roughly
During the $130,000.
progress of the fire
Chinese employees of the Company were rather intimidated by the occasional explosions that took place, and did not wait to help in the work of getting the flames under control. Too much credit cannot be given to the Fire Brigade and the Bluejackets who assisted them in fighting the fire.
the
Mr. H. Kopsch of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank in Tientsin has been transferred to Peking, relieving Mr. Hynd, who goes to Europe on leave of absence. Mr. Rowe relieves Mr. Kopsch in Tientsin.
Viceroy Yuan Shi-kai has recently presented to the Emperor and the Empress Dowager eight sumptuously fitted motor-cars, painted and upholstered in the Imperial yellow, elaborately carved, and heavily gilded. Two are larger than the others and they are of course for the use of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager, while the Empress and Imperial concubines have the smaller ones.
July August September October November December
1903.
1
29
2
115
27
272
.157
515
.194
343
.131
85
50
The especial points of interest in connection with the 1904 outbreak have been
(1.) The earlier diagnosis of cases, which has been effected by a modification of Ross's method of examining microscopically blood-films adop- ted by Dr. Bell of the Government Civil Hos- pital. As a direct result of this there has been a higher percentage of recoveries, the cases having come under treatment earlier.
(2.) The discovery in May of plague-infected fowls, quail, duck, &c., in the markets of the Colony. Knowing as we do that the Chinese eat their poultry very slightly cooked, this may explain the way in which many of the peptio cases become infected, viz., through the gastro- intestinal tract.
(3.) The fact that bugs, fleas, &c., including cockroaches, from infected houses have been found by the Government Bacteriologist to be plague-infected; thus body-yermin is evidently another means by which the disease is spread.
(4.) The success which has been attained by the internal administration of carbolic acid in large doses-12 grains every 2 hours-in the treatment of this disease.
It is to this and to the fact that cases have come for treatment earlier that the year's death- rate at Kennedy Town Hospital has been the lowest on record since 1894, viz., 60.6 per cent.
Last summer His Excellency Sir Henry Blake took over a block in the worst district of the city and endeavoured to stamp out plagus by securing the cleanliness of the people and of the houses. A report has already been published on this experiment by the Colonial Office. One practical outcome has been that during the past winter we have secured the hearty co-operation of the people in the general cleansing of the Chinese houses, which is nowan annual winter measure. This was done much more thoroughly and expeditiously than before and with a minimum of expense to the Government,
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