aid that during the period prepared there has been a great increase in the cost of labour and materials in the Colony, an increase which I estimate at 35 per cent.
I have already indicated the great changes which have been made in the scheme but will recapitulate them here with reference to the various items of the Estimate which have been affected by them.
Item (1). An alteration has been made in the site of the dam causing a reduction of 30 feet in the height of it, and masonry and cement concrete have been substituted for earth and clay puddle in its construction.
Item (2). The original proposal provided only for intercepting a stream from a side-valley below the dam; the present scheme provides a large catchwater on the northern slopes of the Kowloon range of hills, intercepting the drainage from an area of 400 acres.
Owing to the reduction in head resulting from constructing the Jacu lower down the main valley, the level of the main to the Filter Beds has had to be increased.