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COST OF BUILDING.
The present cost of building is a sub- ject which deserves more than a passing consideration, and I believe the Govern- ment could do something to help the pub- lic in this matter. There was a Societies Ordinance which prohibited the formation of trade societies without permission. That Ordinance was repealed, I under- stand, some time last year, and since then any number of societies have been formed in the building trade, all of which tend to increase the price of building and to keep new workmen from settling down in the Colony. To give an example, I am credibly informed that any scaffold builder arriving in the Colony has to join the bamboo workers' guild, and has to pay an entrance fee of $30. Now it will be readily understood that few men in that station of life have $30 to spend in join- ing a guild; consequently new scaffold workers do not arrive, and this applies to other trades as well. I would ask the Government to replace the Societies Ordinance on the Statute Book.
DUMPS FOR BUILDING MATERIALS.
I was glad to see in the estimates a sum provided for a landing stage opposite Wing Wo Road, which is designed to be used as a temporary dump for building materials on landing. This will be wel- comed by the contractors for they were always being harried by the police and fined for dumping materials on the Praya when landed from junks. One may be sure that the contractor takes this into account when making his tender and it is one of the items that goes towards increasing the cost of building.
Another item which often is costly to the building owner is the disposal of surplus spoil during the formation of a site, and I would ask the Government to give more assistance in this matter and not impose such drastic conditions when any permit is granted. It is to be noticed when the Government builds a road the spoil is allowed to be dumped over the side apparently without let or hindrance -any private owner doing so is immedi ately mulcted in a fine. The matters I have mentioned if sympathetically dealt with would go far to help to reduce the cost of building in the Colony.
THE NEEDS OF THE SMALL SALARIED MAN.
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Reverting once more to the Housing Problem it would seem that the most urgent need at the moment is to provide accommodation for the small salaried man, that is to say, small houses with gardens easily accessible are required at a rental of from $50 to $60 a month, in- cluding taxes; and I still maintain that the removal of the Dairy Farm is the solution of the problem. The tramway to Wanchai Gap will not help matters be- cause the cost of building at that level is too high; also the sites (save a very few) woud not be ready-made and access to same would be costly. I would be the last person in the Colony to wish to interfere with the Dairy Farm Company's activities or to stunt its growth in any way, because I fully realize what a tre- mendous asset it is to the Colony, but I. cannot and will not believe that it would fail to flourish elsewhere. It will take time and trouble but I feel sure that Booner or later its removal must come about. The Government Servants are now being provided with good houses at low rentale, and, as the Senior Unofficial Mem. ber said, it is to be hoped that the pre- Went programme will complete the supply as far as the Peak is concerned. Many of the firms have purchased houses for their staff and are letting them at reason- able rents. but apparently no provision is being made for the men to whom refer- ence has been made, and whilst it would seem that accommodation on this side is preferable on account of accessibility, if