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Gentlemen,
THE HONG KONG AND FAR EAST BUILDER
Singapore Municipality
Ordinary Meeting-28th Jan. 1949
DEPUTY PRESIDENT'S REMARKS,
As the year 1948 is now behind us, I thought you would like to have a short account of the progress of work in Muni- cipal departments throughout that year. I propose only to touch upon the salient features in each department, but even that will take some time.
The year has been one of steady progress and in almost all fields of Municipal activity it can be said that rehabilitation work is either at an end or very near the end, while in practically all departments a considerable expansion of work is to be noted.
HEALTH DEPARTMENT.
It is gratifying to report that the health of the Town as reflected in the figures has been well maintained.
The death rate (estimated to be 13.45 per thousand as compared with 14.30 per thousand in 1947) is the lowest recorded. There were 9,374 deaths as compared with 9,648 in 1947. There were 32,074 births as compared with 30,548 in 1947, the birth rate being 46.02. The Infantile Mortality rate again shows a fall being 90.10 per thousand live births, again the lowest recorded, as compared with 97.6 in 1947.
Thh Town was singularly free of the Dangerous In- fectious diseases, there being only 5 cases of Smallpox reported during the year. On the other hand, a disturbing feature of the year was the outbreak of Poliomyelitis, there being 152 cases, 32 of which came from outside Municipal Limus, and 23 deaths. The treatment of these cases threw a heavy strain on the staff of Middleton Hospital and the thanks of the Commissioners are due to the staff and to cer- lain outside helpers who worked long hours during the
pidemic.
Progress in the rehabilitation of the anti-malarial works was maintained. There was a minor outbreak of malaria in the St. Francis Road St. Michael Road area at the end of August. The outbreak was brought under control quickly and by October the hospital returns had again dropped to normal.
Atten-
In the Infant Welfare Department the two new Sub- Clinics established at Balestier Road and Tiong Bahru have proved extremely popular. The number of "self attended" deliveries in the two areas has been greatly reduced. dances at our five clinics increased from 4,000 per month in January to 9,000 per month in December. There has been a very favourable response to the combined Immunisation against Diphtheria and Whooping Cough for infants under 1 year old which was introduced during the year, some 6,000 infants having been inoculated in the last six months.
TOWN CLEANSING DEPARTMENT,
There has been a large improvement in the standard of cleanliness of the Town as compared with 1946 and 1947. This improvement has only been achieved by constant pressure and by vigilant supervision. It is a very heart-breaking task, e.g., during the year the number of court proceedings taken reached almost 11,000, that is to say, an average of about 900 cases monthly. This compares with the total of less than 2,500 cases for the whole of the year 1947.
During the year arrangements have been made for the daily collection of refuse from all premises in the Municipal area. 27 new properly equipped nightsoil vans and 19 new Austin Tippers for refuse collection have been employed dur- ing the year. The construction of 8 new type steel bodies on Karrier Low Loader Chassis is in hand, and these will shortly be added to our Town Cleansing fleet.
WATER DEPARTMENT.
The average daily consumption was 30,984,000 gallons, a slight reduction on the 1947 figure.
Rehabilitation was practically completed in 1948, except where we are still awaiting delivery of spares or materials.
The third 3 million gallon/day pumping set at Pontian Station was commissioned early in the year and, together with the two new sets commissioned late in 1947, gave very satis- factory service throughout the year.
The new Booster Station at MacRitchie Reservoir with two electric pumping units was brought into use and the results have been excellent.
Improvements at Seletar Pumping Station were made anıl the newly installed units are in use.
Delivery of the long delayed elecric pumps and switch- gear for Bukit Timah Road Station was completed towards the end of the year and good progress was made with installa- tion though it was not possible to complete the work in 1948.
Satisfactory progress is being made with quarters for staff and labour on the island and at Pontian.
year.
12.7 miles of main of various sizes were laid during the
Waste Detection again showed good results and the estimated saving was 525,000 gallons/day throughout the
year.
Progress on New Works and Special Works in Johore was disappointing due mainly to staff shortage, steel shortage and latterly to unsettled conditions generally.
ELECTRICITY DEPARTMENT.
The first 9 months of the year were a very trying time both to the public and to the staff of the Electricity Depart- ment and only by supreme efforts was a reasonable continuity of supply achieved during the last 3 months of the year. Although blackouts have been almost eliminated it must not be assumed that they have ceased. We are still so close to the margin that the breakdown of any one item, either a boiler or generator, may necessitate load shedding.
A press and publicity campaign was carried out to endeavour to im- press the public of the advisability of conserving electricity between the hours of 6 and 10 p.m. As far as can be ascer- tained the result of this campaign was negligible.
The total units generated rose from 105 million in 1947 to 126 million in the year under review representing an in- crease of 20%. The consumption for lighting and power showed a moderately steady increase of about 12%, but that for Domestic Power showed an uplift of over 50%.
During the year the Commissioners approved the erection of a new Power Station at Pasier Panjang for an ultimate capacity of 150,000 kw.
The first section of the New Power Station will consist of one X 25,000 kw Turbo Alternator together with 2 X 187,000 lb. boilers, to be followed immediately by the instal- lation of a further similar machine together with boilers, auxiliaries, etc. Once this new Power Station is in commer- cial operation all the present troubles will disappear. Unfor- tunately, it is not anticipated that the New Power Station will be in commision before 1951. We expect to get to work on this early this year.
The re-illumination of the streets of Singapore has pro- gressed and the number of public lamps connected to the main supply has been more than trebled, increasing from 270 in 1947 to 912 at the end of 1948.
GAS DEPARTMENT.
In the Gas Department Steam and Gas Engines are back to normal as is the Coal Conveying Plant. Most of the repair work has been done in our own shops by our own workmen and the standard of work was infinitely better than in 1947. The amount of Gas sold privately for 1948 was 211,710,290 cubic feet against 175,126,073 cubic feet in 1941 (Peak Year) an increase of 36,585,217 cubic feet or 20.574. There was an increase in the number of consumers over the same periorl of about 10%.
MUNICIPAL ENGINEER'S DEPARTMENT.
In the Engineer's Department materials were more freely available, although there are still certain serious shortages, particularly in articles requiring the use of steel. Labour was more plentiful and the men worked better, but the general standard is still inferior to that of pre-war days.
Considerable progress was made during the year and the bulk of the rehabilitation of plant, machinery and buildings has been completed. Extraordinary maintenance of roads, canals, drains and sewers will continue for some years.
A large programme of road reconstruction and main- tenance was successfully achieved, about 700,000 square yards of surfacing being laid or roughly one-fifth of the area of the public roads. This will preserve the roads until a more thorough reconstruction is possible.
Extensive repairs and dredging were carried out to canals end drains. Siglap Stream; Paya Lebar Canal and Rochore Canal may be mentioned, mechanical excavators being used on the latter.
Nearly three miles of sewers were laid which may be contrasted with three-quarters of a mile constructed during 1947.
1947.
Sewer connections totalled 280 compared with 154 in
•
Good progress was made at the Municipal Workshops where forty-two new machines were erected. The Stores and Workshops are now running almost normally.
SINGAPORE FIRE BRIGADE,
Our Fire Brigade received more calls in 1948 than ever before, the total being 583.
Damage by fire caused to property within Municipal Limits was estimated at $476,469/-, being less than 3% of the property at risk, Ten persons lost their lives in fires and explosions attended by the Brigade.
All appliances and equipment have been overhauled and are now up to their pre-war standard of efficiency.
Two new major pumps were placed in commission early in the year and have amply justified the expense. The 100-foot turntable ladder escape arrived in December and was at once placed in service,
The Accident Ambulance Service was re-started in May with 3 ambulances, a fourth being added later in the year. Up to the end of the year the service had attended 1,375 cases. When one remembers the uncontrolled conflagrations which have taken place in other oriental cities since the War, Singapore can congratulate itself that its Fire Brigade has once again been brought to its former high state of efficiency both in training and in equipment.
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