198. Only one screening plant has so far been erected, the one for the Yau Ma Tei Drainage Scheme, and this plant operated successfully. Detailed plans for a submarine outfall were prepared for schemes to drain three populous areas at Wan Chai, North Point and Kowloon East.
199. In Shek Wu Hui, New Territories, a septic tank to serve about 2,000 persons was constructed as a temporary means of sewage disposal for this rapidly developing area. A permanent sewage disposal scheme to serve the whole of Shek Wu Hui and neighbouring villages was investigated.
PRIVATE WORKS
200. Proposed private drainage works submitted for examination numbered 1,261—almost double the number for the previous year.
201. Advice was given on the drainage aspects of 639 proposed sales of Crown land or permit areas.
202. Drainage connexions arising from new buildings numbered 1,933—an increase of 50% over the 1956/57 figure, and an indication that the tempo of development and redevelopment had not slackened.
ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL OFFICE
Acting Chief Electrical and Mechanical Engineer, K. B. Baker, A.M.I.Mech.E.
GENERAL
203. The Sub-department installed many new items of plant and continued to maintain all Government electrical and mechanical equipment, including motor vehicles, lifts, motors, traffic lights and bollards, typhoon signal masts, printing machinery, and domestic appliances, as well as generating, civil engineering, air conditioning and refrigeration plant.
204. Plans to complete the second stage of the rebuilding programme on the Caroline Hill site unfortunately had to be reconsidered; the Architectural Office prepared tentative plans for much more extensive development of the site, including a building of possibly ten storeys to accommodate other Government offices.
MECHANICAL SECTION
205. In previous years the maintenance and installation of plant and equipment in Kowloon and the New Territories has been carried out
33