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THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, MAY 27, 1932.
Administrative Reports, 1931 :—
Part I.-General Administration :-
Report of the Director of the Royal Observatory, Hong Kong..
Part VII.-Undertakings of Government :-
Report on the Kowloon-Canton Railway (British Section).
REPORTS OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE.
5. The Colonial Secretary laid on the table the Reports of the Finance Committee (Nos. 4 and 5), dated 7th April and 28th April, 1932, respectively, and moved their adoption.
The Colonial Treasurer seconded.
Question-put and agreed to.
QUESTIONS,
6. The Hon. Mr. R. H. KOTEWALL, C.M.G., LL.D., pursuant to notice, asked the
following questions:-
1. In view of the great hardship which residents of the rider-main districts are suffering in having to obtain their water supply from the street foun-- tains in this hot weather, will the Government, as an experiment, restore the supply to the houses in these districts on the same restriction in re- spect of hours of supply, so as to give the people an opportunity to prove that, in the present acute state of the water situation, they are able to keep down consumption of water obtained through such direct supply, to the same level as that through the street supply; on the understand- ing that every effort is made by the three Chinese members of the Legislative Council to impress upou the people the imperative necessity for conserving every drop of water, and that the street supply will be reverted to, should it be found that the consumption of a direct house supply appreciably exceeds that of a street supply.
2. Will the Government state whether any houses in the rider-main districts have been disconnected from the rider-mains and, if so, will it give the reasons for its action, in view of the statement made by His Excellency the Governor, Sir Cecil Clementi, in this Council on the 23rd Septem- ber, 1929, (Hansard 1929, p. 232), namely:
"It will, of course, be impossible to discard the rider-main system. until there is an assured supply of water available both on the island and on the mainland throughout the year; and the Government will certainly give this Council an opportunity to debate the matter before the rider-mains are abolished."
The Colonial Secretary replied as follows:-
1. The Government does not feel justified in reopening the rider-mains.. The Director of Public Works has a scheme under consideration by which a longer period of supply can be given from street fountains, while a shorter supply will be made available for those on metered supplies. It is hoped that this scheme will be ready for operation in the course of the next few days. It is not considered safe to allow unmetered supplies in houses until the position improves.
2. In February last it was decided in Executive Council that universal meterage should be introduced as soon as possible, and that in the rider-main districts the cost of transferring existing house-services from the rider-mains to principal mains should be borne by public funds. Considerable progress has been made with this scheme, and a large number of meters have been fixed within the rider-main areas. Government will give this Council an opportunity to discuss the pro- posal for the abolition of the rider-main system generally before the filling of the reservoirs makes the reintroduction of the rider-main system a practical possibility.
The
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