visions and many of the buildings originally constructed in accordance with these provisions, are now out of date. Control of domestic buildings is now effected by the operation of a newer Buildings Ordinance introduced in 1935, which provides also for improved lighting and ventilation in buildings originally made to conform with the less advanced legislation. Yards and scavenging lanes are statutory requirements which have resulted in gradually improved standards and have rendered possible the provision of latrines and bathrooms. The absence of statutory powers for compulsory demolition of buildings unless they are condemned as dangerous, is responsible for the disappointingly slow disappearance of the tenement houses built before 1903.
The Urban District comprises the whole of the Island of Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Kowloon and is divided into five areas. A Health Officer in each area is responsible for health and sanitation and for supervising and directing the work of the health inspectors employed in his area. Each area is divided into health districts in charge of each of which is a health inspector. Other health inspectors are employed in special duties connected with the control of hawkers, anti-epidemic measures, scavenging, etc. Altogether there are 43 health dis- tricts in the urban district of which 25 are on the Island and 18 in Kowloon and New Kowloon.
An important feature of the normal work of the health inspector is the inspection of tenement buildings and the cleansing of premises. Houses are dealt with in rotation and the residents are required by law to cleanse their premises under the direction of the health inspector and his staff. Tanks of approximately 200 gallons capacity containing a one per cent. solution of water and kerosene emulsion (soft soap and kero- sene) are provided for cleansing purposes generally and for complete immersion of bed boards and the smaller articles. of furniture. Altogether, it takes about three to four months to cleanse the whole of the urban district.
A successful battle has been waged against the outbreak of insect-borne diseases by means of the application of D.D.T. kerosene solution on war-damaged buildings and settlements of squatters huts.
Rural Housing.
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The housing of the rural population is very different. Only the urban area is affected by large-scale influxes of population such as took place in 1939-1941 and during the year under review. The population of the New Territories is very stable, and the villages were for the most part built several generations ago. The houses are huddled together, often surrounded by a. wall and sometimes by a moat; many of the walled villages still retain their heavy gates and some adhere to the traditional routine of bolting the gates at sunset against bandits. Village houses in the New Territories are known as "ancestral property" and are handed down from father to son and almost without exception occupied by the owner, who pays a small annual Crown rent to
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