164
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
sanitary structures such as aqua-privies are provided both for vil- lages and for individual premises. Many licensed premises were improved by the substitution of aqua-privies for dry pail latrines.
There are two systems of scavenging in the New Territories. In the townships and built-up areas there is a daily house-to-house refuse collection service for which 5 three-ton tipper lorries are used. These lorries also collect the sweepings transferred from handcarts used in the streets and side lanes, where scavenging labourers work in beats, covering the area three or four times a day. The refuse collected is dumped at the main refuse dump at Gin Drinker's Bay or at the subsidiary dumping grounds at Tai Po, Au Tau and San Hui. Teams of labourers are posted to smaller villages which cannot be reached by lorry. If the villages are very remote, mobile teams pay periodical visits to collect the refuse and dispose of it on the spot by burning or burying. Incinerators have been built in a number of remoter villages and others are planned or are in the course of construction.
During the year the scavenging staff of the New Territories was doubled and this enabled certain improvements to be made in the scavenging services. The duties of the street sweeping patrols were reorganized to provide for more frequent sweeping of the main streets. Scavengers were posted to a number of villages_formerly not covered by full-time scavenging services.
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