PLAGUE PROCEDURE IN HONGKONG. 43 



are five gangs in the city of Victoria each consisting of one Chinese 

 foreman, one artisan and seven coolies. Two inspectors have each one 

 and one-half gangs, and the other two have a gang each, while Kowloon 

 also has a gang consisting of a Chinese foreman, two artisans and ten 

 coolies. 



During nonepidemic periods the whole of this staff is engaged in 

 house-to-house cleaning work, about ten houses or thirty floors a day 

 being dealt with. Each tenant receives three days' notice, in writing, 

 requiring him throughly to cleanse his premises. On the day fixed, the 

 gang attends in the street opposite the houses named and supplies hot 

 water and soap solution to the tenants, it cleans out all empty floors, 

 basements, etc., the tenants themselves cleansing their own premises 

 without assistance from us. The refuse turned out during this operation 

 is removed by the gang to the' nearest dust boat. The soap solution is 

 also used by the tenants for washing their bed-boards, etc., in the street 

 or on the veranda. 



. When the cleansing work is completed by the tenants, the inspector 

 visits every floor, accompanied by the foreman interpreter and some of 

 the coolies with a bucket of disinfectant (liquid fuel) and some mops; 

 this liquid is applied to the sides and corners of the floors, to the 

 skirtings, around the partitions of the cubicles, and to the stairs, under 

 the personal supervision of the inspector. At this visit, when the floors 

 are clear of furniture, and other incumbrances, the inspector makes 

 special note of the condition of the ground surfaces, the absence of 

 gratings to drain-inlets and ventilators, and the presence of rat runs, 

 and all these matters are dealt with by legal notice at once. The tenants 

 are requested by notice, to permit their bedding and spare clothing to be 

 steamed, in order to destroy fleas and other vermin and their ova, but 

 heretofore in Victoria they have persistently refused to allow this to be 

 done, even though compensation is offered for all articles damaged. 

 Should a case of plague appear in a house, the floor on which the case 

 occurs is disinfected by the plague staff, the walls being sprayed with 

 corrosive sublimate, and the floor and bed boards washed with Jeyes's 

 fluid (half a pint to the gallon) ; crude carbolic acid is poured into the 

 rat runs, which are then filled up with cement; and the clothing and 

 bedding is sent to the disinfecting station to be steamed. The remaining 

 floors of the infected house are cleansed by the tenants in the same 

 manner as in the house-to-house cleaning. Should there be any ceilings 

 or stair linings in the infected house, these are removed and compensation 

 is paid for them, if the case has been duly reported, while illegalities 

 are dealt with by notice. The compensation in the case of Chinese is 

 assessed separately by the kaifong of the districts and by the plague 

 inspector, and the assessments are dealt with by a committee of the 

 sanitary board. The kaifong are appointed by the Tung Wall hospital 



