entertain the scheme for a moment. A fifth project of the Chinese community was the establishment of a Chinese Chamber of Commerce, which was to take over all the extraneous functions of the Tung-wa Hospital Committee. Sir John encouraged this project and suggested to combine with the Chamber of Commerce a Chinese Industrial Museum. The plan was often discussed, petitions and deputations pressed it upon the Government, year after year, but although the Governor finally (February 20, 1880) promised to recommend a Government grant of $10,000, in addition to the grant of a piece of ground, nothing was really done.
The sanitation of Hongkong was, during this administration, a subject fruitful of bitter strife, as it brought the Surveyor General, the Colonial Surgeon and the Military Medical Authorities into direct opposition against the views of the Governor. The annual reports of the Colonial Surgeon for the years 1879 and 1880 having been suppressed by the Governor, our records are incomplete. However, the Registrar General's statistics of the annual death-rate per 1,000 of the whole population (being 26.81 for 1877, 29.60 for 1878, and 32.14 for 1879) show a steady increase for the first three years of this administration, followed by a considerable decrease in 1880 (28.71) and 1881 (24.07). As no material changes were made in the system of sanitation, it seems that the rise and fall of mortality during those years had nothing to do with the Governor's attitude towards, or inactivity in matters of sanitation. The increase of sickness in 1877 is accounted for by meteorological conditions, the heat registered during that year having been in excess of anything experienced during the preceding eight years, while the rainfall (77.24) was below that of previous years (104.02 in 1876). As to the year 1878 shewing a rise in the mortality tables, the Colonial Surgeon reported that the health of the Colony was exceptionally good in 1878, and during the year 1879, when the mortality among the Chinese population rose to 33.11 per 1,000, the health of the troops was even better than in 1878. The common practice during this period was, when things sanitary were found fault
