Electrical Section
131. This section is responsible for the maintenance, alterations and improvements of all electrical installations in estates, factories and cottage areas, and also for new electrical installations for other depart- ments which maintain offices in estates.
132. The improvement of living standards has led to a rapidly- increasing demand for more electrical supplies in estates as tenants buy more electrical household appliances. This extra loading has caused frequent breakdowns in supply and as a result the switchgears in four Mark IV blocks, and both switchgears and rising mains in 14 Mark I blocks, had to be uprated during the year. Electrical overloading in factories, and the steps taken to deal with this, have been mentioned elsewhere in this report. Additional rising mains have been installed in 8 factory blocks, and over 800 moulded circuit-breakers (about 60% of the requirement) have been fitted.
133. There have been frequent breakdowns of lifts in the 16-storey Mark IV blocks. These are usually due to overloading and misuse by the tenants, and the Public Works Department proposes in future to incorporate overloading devices in lifts as well as to increase their speed. Improvements to the existing lifts are also under consideration.
134. A programme for replacing manually-operated switches for public lighting in estates was started during the year, and 146 automatic time-switches were installed. It is expected that the programme will take two years to complete.
CHAPTER 9
FINANCE
135. Settlers in cottage areas pay quarterly permit fees for the sites they occupy. The amount is laid down in the Resettlement Regulations, and varies according to the size of the site and the location of the area; for a typical site of 160 square feet the permit fee is $5 a quarter in outlying areas and $15 a quarter in the more central areas. If the permittee does not own the premises he is living in, he also pays rent either to the Government or to a welfare agency, or a hire-purchase instalment to a private owner. Rents for Government-owned cottages are $10 or $15 a month according to location.
136. The Government's policy in fixing rents in domestic estates is to recover the original capital cost (including an assumed figure of $14
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