every alternate day on June 29th, after the termination of supplies from China. At that time 16,800 M.G. had been drawn from China since October 1st 1966, when the supply period commenced. Requests for additional supplies in July, August and September went unanswered and on 13th July it was necessary to reduce the supply to four hours every fourth day. These severe restrictions continued until the middle of August when the drought broke and a daily supply was restored. With Chinese water becoming available again on 1st October a full supply was reintroduced, although the use of Plover Cove water to supplement supplies from the old reservoirs increased the salinity of the water to a maximum of 900 parts per million of sodium chloride.
1.05. Public Works Department Non-Recurrent and Recurrent expenditure, excluding personal emoluments, totalled $447 million compared with $572 million in 1966-67; expenditure on Public Works Non-Recurrent at $361 million showed a drop of $119 million on the previous year. The biggest drop was $57 million in Waterworks expenditure, mainly as a result of the virtual completion of the Plover Cove Scheme.
1.06. The disturbances not surprisingly had some effect on the progress of contract works and the expenditure of money. During May, June and July, transport difficulties, curfews and the fear of curfews resulted in a large proportion of the labour force arriving late on site and leaving early, with a resultant drop in output. Lack of materials imported from China, particularly cement, steel and plywood for shuttering, caused delays, especially on some housing and resettlement contracts. In August and September all site formation works came to a halt because of a ban on the delivery of explosives and although controlled deliveries were started in September, work on many sites proceeded at a reduced speed.
1.07. Another factor which affected expenditure was the continued drop in the cost of building works, particularly resettlement and low cost housing. The cost of this type of work has always been low and even in 1965, when prices were at their peak, building costs worked out at about $1.30 per cu. ft. In 1967 prices had dropped to something less than 90 cents per cu. ft. Uncertainty about the cross-harbour tunnel necessitated the deferment of work at the two landfalls, whilst the financial difficulties of a few contractors whose contracts had to be terminated, also led to delays and under-expenditure.
1.08. Nevertheless the year saw the completion of various major projects, the most notable of which was the 4,700-ft. long Lion Rock
2
14