THE PLAGUE IN HONG KONG.

Waikato Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 565, 6 February 1900, Page 4

THE PLAGUE IN HONG KONG.

It appears from the files of tlio Overland • China Mail, to hand by the steamer Chingtu, that the Sanitary Board of Hong Kong, in which city the bubonic plaguo has gained a footing, has been compelled to undertake vigorous mo auras to exterminate the rata which infect the city, as it is the firm belief of the medical authorities that rats convey infection from one place to another. At a meeting of the board, held on Friday, December Bth, the president submitted the following minute for approval:—* The present time appears to me a convenient time for killing off as many rats as possible. Accordingly we should purchase in the first instance GOO traps (they can bo obtained at the gaol for twenty cents each) and request the Medical Officer of Health to instruct cacbinspector to distribute fifty in his district. The people will have to bo shown how to sot them. Undoubtedly rats are one means whereby plaguo is disseminated and it is much wiser to attempt to kfll them off in a time like the present when the disease is not prevalent. Before doing this ask the Medical Officers for his opinion. ’ Dr Clark, a member of the Board, said I am oi opinion that any attempt to materially reduce the number of rats in such a city as this will bo futile. The attempt has already been made in India and found to be impracticable. It can do no harm to set a few rat traps but that is the most that can bo said in favour of the scheme, Wo caught about a thousand rats this summer with traps, and asked the Chinese to assist- 200 posters were stuck up and 5000 leaflets distributed—but they did not appear to respond at all to the appeal. It will ba necessary to engage coollies (Sdols a month) to look after these traps—one man for every two districts in the Central Divison, .and one man each for districts 1 and 10—as otherwise the tenants will not bother to set

and bait them. Raw meat is the only I bait that appears to be of any use. The ' expediture on the coollies must, I think, be sanctioned by the Government. Notwithstanding the opinion expressed by Dr Clark that it would be futile to attempt to reduce the number of rats by ' - trapping, the president’s proposal to purchase 600 traps was carried out, and it was also arranged that a regular rat hunt be inaugurated, and a reward of two cents per head paid. At the time the Chingtu left nothing had been published to indicate what success had attended the efforts of the Sanitary Board to extern inate the vermin. According to the Overland China Mail, it has been decided, at the instance of the Russian Minister of Finance, to despatch a sanitary corps of doctors and Sisters of Mercy to Manchuria to combat the plague which has broken out among tbo Chinese laborers on the Manchurian railway. The detachment, it is said, will be under the orders of Captain

Alexandrovski, of the Chevalier Guards, and will hike passage on one of the boats of the Messageries • Maretimos for the Chinese port of Inkau, whence the rest of the way will bo made overland.

The following mixture is reported from the proceedings of a school board meeting in the County of Midlothian. Ouo speaker taunted a fellow member with having pressed forcibly home a shadowy accusation which was but the reflection of an invisible bug bear. ’ The Dutch manufacturers are said to have discovered )he cause of the “Jfisliy” taste in butter to be a microbe, which infests the building and utensils of the factories, and acts like a leaven upon the bulk of the butter produced in any building where the germ has obtained a lodgment. So difficult is it to deal witli that the only satisfactory method of eradicating the pest is to totally destroy by fire every place and utensil affected. This system of purification by fire is necessary at intervals of about four years, but the improved quality of the article well repays the cost.

One of the most heartrending scenes that ever took place in a court of justice was witnessed at Cardiff, when Mr Justice

Buoknill passed sentence of death on a woman who had been convicted of murder. It was the first time in his judicial oareer that Justice Buoknill had faced the ordeal of pronouncing tho capital sentence, and in spite of himself ho could not restrain his feelings. His voice trembled when he commenced to utter the terrible words, and before tho sentence was finished bo almost broke down, while / at tho end be burst into tears. This affecting scone, coming as it did after a most pathetic appeal of the prisoner for mercy for the sake of her children, is probably without parallel in the annals of trials There was scarcely a dry eye in court, and oven the counsel were unable to hide their emotion.