ENG-1948 — Page 105

(f) Dysentery.

183 cases were reported with 25 deaths.

These figures do not give an accurate picture of the disease as many cases recorded as enteritis are in all probability dysentery. Of the reported cases 118 were amoebic, 62 bacillary and 3 not specified.

(g) Rabies.

Two cases of human rabies occurred both being fatal, and 3 cases of animal rabies.

(h) Measles.

190 cases of measles were reported with 6 deaths giving a mortality of 3.2%. 82 of these cases occurred during the first 3

months of the year and 46 in December.

(i) Puerperal Fever.

Ten cases of puerperal fever were reported with 5 deaths. (j) Tuberculosis.

6,279 cases were reported during the year with 1961 deaths giving a mortality rate of 31.2%. This disease is by far the most important of the notifiable diseases and is the subject of fuller comment on an earlier page.

HOUSING

Urban Housing.

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The majority of the Chinese population lives in the older Chinese tenement houses of Victoria City and of Kowloon. These houses, originally built back to back, have since been provided with small yards and kitchens behind. In most cases there are scavenging lanes although legislation passed after the houses were originally built makes the provision of scavenging lanes obligatory. The buildings vary in height from two to four storeys, the poorer section of the population being housed mainly in the upper floors. The ground floors are used mainly as shops or workplaces. Each floor is sub-divided into rooms or cubicles of 64 square feet and usually accommodates not less than three or four families. A communal kitchen is provided but in the old type of building no provision is made for latrines or ablution accommodation. this reason, public latrines and bath houses have been erected in the poorer class districts. Buildings of this type are very gradual- ly disappearing, to be replaced by more modern structures, Virtually all such tenement houses are owned by Chinese land- lords, though some of the larger industrial undertakings, both

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