ENG-1957 — Page 402

HISTORY

347

movement hastened from 1888 onwards, when Peak and city were linked by funicular railway.

A sanitary commissioner, Osbert Chadwick, was finally appointed in 1882 to advise the Government; and, as a result of his report, a Sanitary Board was set up. Its measures to improve the noisome state of the city were, however, at first ineffective. The administration was labouring on one side with financial difficulties, and on the other with the negative attitude adopted by the leaders of the Chinese community and the deep-seated distrust shown by members of the public in any measures which might be taken as interfering with their homes and ways of living. Almost every year at the end of the century there were outbreaks of plague, which, thanks to a Japanese research worker in Hong Kong, were finally identified as being carried by rats. After this discovery, against considerable public opposition, regular house-cleansing was carried out by sanitary squads, and measures were effectively taken to restrict the spread of plague. Outbreaks, however, continued on a diminishing scale until about 1927, when, for reasons unknown, occur- rences of this particular disease lessened significantly in all parts of the world.

The Sanitary Board continued in existence until 1936, when its functions were broadened and entrusted to an Urban Council, with official, appointed and elected members. In 1953 the number of elected members was increased from two to four, and the franchise was widened. In 1956 the number of elected members was again increased to eight.

Reclamation meanwhile continued steadily. Between 1921-9 ninety acres were reclaimed north of Johnston Road, allow- ing for a large planned extension of the Chinese quarter of Wan Chai, now one of the most densely populated urban districts in the world. Since the Second World War there has been extensive reclamation in the central district, Cause- way Bay, and at various points on the northern shores of the harbour.