Noven:ber 27, 1909.]'
SANITARY BOARD.
NEW MEMBER.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
AN UNSATISFACTORY CONSERVANCY
CONTRACTOR.
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conservancy and scavenging contractor were Further complaints against the Kowloon considered.
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A meeting of the Sanitary Board was held on Tuesday at the Board Room, Mr. E. D. C. Wolfe presided, and there were present: Hon. Dr. Fitzwilliams, Hon. Mr. A. W. Brewin stated that this was the same man who was The PRESIDENT, in reply to Dr. Fitzwilliams, (Registrar General), Mr. A. Shelton Hooper, previously fined. There were six different Mr. Lau Chu Pak, Mr. Ng Hon Tsz, charges against him on February 3rd, and com- Dr. F. Clark (Medical Officer of Health),plaints again in June. One of the members of Dr. Pearse (A.M.O.H.) and Mr. W. Bowen the Board then remarked that if the charges Rowlands (Secretary).
were proved the contractor should be fined the maximum amount. Another member minuted that the man did not seem capable or willing to fulfil his contract. When the speaker first took over his new work he had considerable difficulty in making the contractor carry out the terms of his contract. As far as he could gather, the contractor tendered a less amount than last time, although there was an additional clause added to the contract. The contractor now had a sufficient number of boats to carry on the work, but not the number required by his contract. The question was whether members would hear the contractor, or leave the matter to a sub-committee.
The PRESIDENT-Gentlemen, before entering on the business of the meeting I should like, on behalf of all members, who will, I think, endorse my remarks, to extend a hearty welcome to the Board to Mr. Ng Hon Tsz, our new member. Mr. Ng Hon Taz is a well-known member of the Chinese community here, and I think we may take it that any remarks or any feelings he expresses as representing the views of the Chinese on matters of public, concern will be such that they may well deserve our con- fidence. Mr Ng, on behalf of the members of the Board, I beg to congratulate you on your appointment, and to extend the welcome of the members.
Mr. NG HON Tsz-Thank you, sir.
CEMETERY BYELAWS.
The HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT submitted the following minute relative to the cemetery bye-laws : Now that the Christian Burial Ground Ordinance, No. 38 of 1909, has been passed (Government notification No. 727 of Govern- ment Gazette of 12/11/09), it would be well to amend byelaw 12 of the cemetery byelaws. Byelaw 12 reads: The burning of joss sticks and firing of crackers is prohibited in the Colonial Cemetery. In view of the setting aside of a portion of the Colonial Cemetery
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as a Christian burial ground, I would suggest
that the byelaw now be amended to read as follows: The burning of joss sticks and firing of crackers is prohibited in that portion of the Colonial Cemetery set spart for burial of persons professing the Christian religion under Ordinance No. 3 of 19 9.?"
The old byelaw was repealed, and it was agreed that the one suggested by the President should stand as part of the byelaws.
TYPEWRITTEN MINUTES.
The report of the Assistant Medical Officer of Health, relative to the rat-catching system at Kowloon, was again laid before the Board.
Dr. FITZWILLIAMS asked if it would not be possible to get minutes typewritten before they were circulated.
The PRESIDENT said if members wished it the minutes could be typed. He thought it would perhaps save considerable trouble in reading, but he was not going to say anything about bad writing.
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Mr. HOOPER-I think the suggestion is a good one.
The PRESIDENT-The Secretary will make a note of it.
Mr. HOOPER suggested that the committee should be invested with the full powers of the Board, and with power to act? He meant that the committee appointed should be able to in- vestigate the charges now before the Board, and if they thought them proved, should impose any penalty they might consider necessary and report their action to the Board. It seemed to him that a public meeting was hardly the place to investigate details of charges when they had a lot of other work on the agenda. They could not get sufficient time to do justice to the case.
The PRESIDENT thought they should have a standing committee to deal with similar com- could go before the standing committee, who plaints against all contractors. Complaints could then report to the Board.
Mr. HOOPER was quite in favour of the Pre- sident's suggestion, and thought they should have a series of standing committees, the same as councils had at Home.
The REGISTRAR-GENERAL moved the ap- pointment of a select committee to enforce the provisions of the various conservancy and scavenging contracts.
Mr. HOOPER seconded, and the President, the Registrar-General and Mr. Lau Chu Pak were appointed members of the new committee. APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO ERECT A
MONUMENT ALREADY ERECTED. Messrs. C. E. Warren and Co. applied to the Board for a permit to erect a monument over the grave of the late Mr. Harry Wicking The area of the monument was 7 feet 5 inches by 4 feet, which equalled 293 square feet, 53 square feet in excess of the usual allowance. On that account they wished to purchase the
balance.
Mr. SHELTON HOOPER minuted-As the additional area applied for to erect a monument will not lessen the burial area of the
ANTHRAX AT KENNEDY TOWN. The COLONIAL VETERINARY SURGEÓN sub-cemetery it should be granted. mitted the following minute relative to a case of anthrax in the Kennedy Town Cattle Depot:-I have the honour to report for the information of the Board that a case of anthrax occurred in the Kennedy Town Cattle Depot. Four bullocks were admitted from Sun On to the Depot on the afternoon of the 12th instant. On the morning of the 13th one was isolated, having then a temperature of 105.80 Fahr. On the 14th, when the Depot was opened, this bullock was found dead, and an examination of the blood showed it to be a case of anthrax. The re- maining three bullocks have shown no signs of illness.
Hon. Mr. HEWETT-Will this extension
block the pathway between the adjoining graves?
FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE.
A minute was also furnished by the Colonia) Veterinary Surgeon relative to the extension of the outbreak of foot and mouth disease to two small sheds next No. 3 shed.
The PRESIDENT said the outbreak, which was reported at last meeting, had since extended slightly, but there appeared no necessity for calling a special meeting of the Board, as they had already declared No. 3 shed an infected He thought it would be wise to pass a resolution declaring the two sheds adjoining No. 3 shed an infected area.
Members agreed and a resolution was accord ingly passed.
'area.
Mr. HOOPER-I see this correspondence is addressed to Mr. Tooker, and Mr. Tooker is not an officer of the Sanitary Depart- ment. The public, I think, should be informed that the proper department
for carrying out and enforcing these byelaws is the Sanitary Department. I would like to ask you, sir, whose duty-what officer's in the Sanitary Department-it is to see that the spaces people are entitled to are not exceeded?
The PRESIDENT-The inspector of ceme- teries.
Mr. HOOPER-Then I take it that if a grave occupies more space than is allowed by law, the matter will be brought to your notice?
The PRESIDENT-It is the inspector's duty to report it to me.
Mr. HOOPER-Well, sir, it may astonish you very much, for it certainly astonished me on going down to inspect this grave, to find it a fait accompli. The monument was up, the curb round, and the whole thing fixed. I measured the grave and found it 4 feet by 7 feet 5 inches, and I am sure that you, when you circulated these papers, could not have been aware that the work had actually been
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done. It is very much like hanging a man first and trying him afterwards, this coming to monument that has already been erected. When the Board and asking permission to erect a
I wrote my minute I was not aware of the facts. I measured the distance between that curb and the curb of the adjoining grave, and found it to be fourteen inches only. I am sure it would be satisfactory to the Board if you gave a disclaimer publicly that you were not aware this monument was up before permission was granted.
The PRESIDENT-In reply to Mr. Hooper I may say I was not aware of this fact, and the only way I can account for it is through the certain amount of confusion caused by the raising of this (grave) question and the cemetery byelaws in the past. Formerly Mr. Tooker was connected with this work, but now the matter is solely in the hands of the Sanitary Depart- ment, and I am almost certain I gave verbal instructions to the inspector of cemeteries to report on such matters. He has not received written instructions on the point, but I will see that he gets them at once. Since the new byelaws have come into force it will be his duty to see that any encroachments are reported. 'I was absolutely unaware of the fact that this monument had already been put up.
Mr. HOOPER-I would now move that the application be granted, but in doing this the Board, I think, should make a strong representa- tion to those concerned for the very improper act they have committed by doing the work before they got the permission of the Board.
The MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH seconded, and the motion was carried.
MORTALITY STATISTICS, Based on a death rate per 1,000 per annum, the mortality statistics of the whole Colony for the week ended 23rd October showed a percent- against 28.1 for the corresponding week of last age of 17.7, and 29.9 for the following week, as
year.
CONDEMNED MAN IN THE WITNESS-BOX,
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A remarkable circumstance in connection with the trial of the second man at the Supreme Court for complicity in the murder of two Indian policemen in the New Territory last August was that an Tuesday the man already condemned to death for participating in the murder entered the witness-box and declared that the prisoner was not in the party which made the attack on the police. There had been some confusion, he said, between the names of the prisoner and another man. He stated that on the day in question five men went down the gap where the Indium police- men were seen, while he stood at the ridge to see if anybody came. After an absence of about twenty minutes the men returned carry- ing packages, which were taken to a house, where they were divided among the five.. Twelve dollars was given to witness, but he could not say how much the prisoner got.
Two of the witnesses for the prosecution were then brought forward and witness stated that they took part in the attack on the
Indians.
Mr. Polter-It seems to be the Leung family that have got you into trouble P-Yes.
so.
You have been condemned to death and there is no reason why you should tell a lie ?-That is
By the Court-Do you know the prisoner ?—— Ever since boyhood.
Did you and he live in the same village P-No. Prisoner then asked through the interpreter -I want to know the reason for your Lordship sentencing me to death when I only got twelve dollars out of the spoils.
His Lordship-Tell him the jury found him guilty. They believed his own statement that he was there and that he was a party to the murder whether he inflicted the blows or not.
The condemned man was then removed in custody.
It appears, says the Japan Mail, to have been. finally decided that the railways in Korea are to be transferred to the control of the Railway Board in Japan. This step having already been taken with regard to the Manchurian railways, there does not appear to be any valid reason for an exception in Korea's case,
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.