The Hawaiian gazette., 1898-03-15

red in the outside districts, by the Hos
pitfalls al Waikiki, Maui. the Insane
Asylum and other places which do not
go through the Board of Health and
are for their own immediate supplies,
of which the Board of Health cannot
have any knowledge until the bills
come in. As early as October notices
were sent out from both the Depart
ment Of the Acknowledgement and the
Board of Health, to have every account
sent in by December 31st, and the
books were kept open until January
18th. Every effort was made to get
the accounts in; but in spite OF all our
efforts the accounts were not all sent
in Then the accounts were kept open
until the Appropriation Bill for I'm
paid bills was made up to that time,
but even after that, after the books
were kept open until the last moment,
additional, accounts kept. coming in,
which were added on another list, and
made the amounts differ from the state
ment originally made. The attention
of the Chairman of the Committee was
called to this, and | thought l had eX-
planned il 10 him. AS ! am informed,
up TO the present time not a member
of this committee of the Senate has eX-
amined the books of the Department.
The matter Of these unpaid bills COM
ing in, Of which we had no knowledge
and of which we could have had no
knowledge led TO this misapprehen-
sion. l do not think there was an in
tention on the part of single mem
Der of the Senate to do an injustice;
but from the statements published
false and erroneous impression has
been created, which caused indignation
on the part of the members of the
Board, which I could not help but
share l do not think, however, that
there was any intention to do an in
justice, and an examination of the ac-
counts of that Department will prove
that they are in order. There are
vouchers for every item. A detail
book is kept showing everything, from
la pai-ai account for Malulani Hospital
to bag of potatoes for the Leper Set
Element. Every voucher is checked
and balanced and the accounts are cor
rect.
In regard to the statement that no
report had been made of the trip of
DR.. Wood and myself to Japan and
China and also of the trip of DR.. Day
later, I would call your attention to
the Report of the. Board of Health, in
which a report was made in detail of
these precise matters, taking up every
point. l do not need to add anything
to these reports, which are made in
full, covering every detail.
T..
enforcement of the quarantine laws is
unsatisfactory, have this to say. That
it is not altogether satisfactory, as it
lis in some particulars beyond the con-
troll of the Board of Health. The Unit
ed States Department has a Sanitary
Inspector at Hong Kong The Hawaiian
Government has one at Yokohama.
Kobe, Nagasaki, Hong Kong and
Annoy. The people coming here from
China have their effects disinfected by
the Hawaiian Sanitary Inspectors, but
there are always on board the same
ship people from China, going through
to San Francisco, steerage passengers,
who are not required to have their
clothing and effects disinfected and
for that reason the protection is only
partial. A year ago l had talk with
Surgeon General Wyman of the United
States Marine Hospital Service which
resulted in his sending Dr. Brooks to
investigate this matter and we sent DR..
Day from here to confer with the Unit
ed States medical officers and our medi-
cal officers, in order to make the ar
rangement more perfect.
Objections have been raised on the
part of the British authorities at Hong
Kong to our regulations being enforced,
and further objections have been raised
on the part of the japanese Govern
ment Difficulties have also arisen
with the steamship companies in refer
ence to the regulations. The steamer
Kinai Maru, when she sailed from Kobe
had been thoroughly disinfected, the
effects Of the passengers had been dis
infected and the passengers subjected
to a quarantine lasting for more than
week before leaving, and still the
smallpox broke out, after reaching
here. after more than twenty days
from the time the quarantine had ex-
pired.
To investigate all these matters, DR..
Day was sent to meet DR.. Brooks. He
made very thorough report which is
published in the report of the Board OF
Health.
In regard to the value of those quar-
antine regulations; the results pro-
duced by those trips; the appointment
of Sanitary Inspectors and inaugural
ing the system now in vogue; all | can
say is that the cholera, black plague
and smallpox has been epidemic in all
those ports during this time but
through the enforcement of those regu-
lations we have been able to carry on
trade and commerce with those ports
and keep up communication with them
without interruption. We had the les
son of our own cholera epidemic in
1895; and the black plague was pre-
vailing in China when Dr. Wood and
went on. We saw plague patients
in Hong Kong in every stage of the
disease. Dr. Wood consulted with the
medical officers there who were treat
ing the disease and was enabled to get
full information on this subject, which
will prove invaluable In the matter
of smallpox, investigations were made
as to the vaccine virus they used.
Great uncertainty was found to prevail
as to the efficacy of vaccination. Many