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HEALTH
The amount of refuse collected was slightly below 1,000 tons a day. Eighty seven refuse collection vehicles were used. Refuse collected in the Kowloon Peninsula is transported by road to the reclamation area at Gin Drinker's Bay for disposal by controlled wet tipping at the foreshore. Refuse collected on Hong Kong Island is transported to the same dump by sea, the number of barges in daily use being eight. Dumping added approximately 9,900 square feet to the reclamation during the year.
Sixteen street-washing vehicles were employed to wash roads, scavenging lanes, gutters, footpaths, markets and hawker areas. Occasionally these vehicles were used to lay dust around building sites. Some street washing operations were carried out at night.
About 27 per cent of the buildings in the urban areas are without water-borne sanitation and a conservancy service collected and disposed of nightsoil from 36,000 floors with dry latrines. 1,200 workers, mostly female, with the aid of 46 tanker vehicles and three tanker barges, were employed nightly on this service. A total of 68,200 cubic yards of nightsoil was collected during the year. Most of this was delivered to the Maturation Station at Tsuen Wan and after being rendered safe for agricultural use, re-distrib- uted to New Territories' farmers as fertilizer.
Cemeteries and Crematoria. There are three main public cemeteries under the direct control and management of the Urban Council, and a number of private cemeteries. A modern crema- torium under construction at Cape Collinson at the eastern end of Hong Kong Island will be completed early in 1962. A Muslim Mosque and Cemetery are also under construction in the same
area.
The Director of Urban Services acts as local agent for the Com- monwealth War Graves Commission, on whose behalf he is respon- sible for the Sai Wan Bay War Cemetery and the Stanley Military Cemetery. A number of visits of inspection to the cemeteries were made by the Commission during the year.
Pest Control. Much of the routine work of the Pest Control Section of the Urban Services Department consists of the control of rats, mice, fleas, cockroaches, bed-bugs, and biting midges. The section also carried out regular fly control measures at the refuse dump at Gin Drinker's Bay. A particularly important part of the
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