25-
53849/356,
No. 902
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONG KONG,
12th December, 1938.
Sir,
4
I have the honour to refer to my despatch
No. 779 of 20th October, 1938, on the subject of the
new Waterworks Ordinance and the reorganization of
the water finances, and transmit for your information
a copy of a Regulation which has been made under the
Emergency Regulations Ordinance, 1922, in the following
circumstances.
2.
Landlords in the Colony have for some years
requested Government to agree to the installation of
separate meters for the individual floors of tenement
houses. In connection with the recent reorganization
of water finances, it was announced that Government
would agree to such installation on certain conditions,
although it was made clear that this change was not an essential part of the Government's policy, and amounted only to a permission to landlords to do something which
had previously not been allowed. The conditions proposed
are set out in paragraphs 13 to 15 of the Financial Secretary's Memorandum (Sessional Paper No. 10 of 1938).
Shortly after the coming into force of the new
Ordinance, however, it was brought to the notice of Government that a number of landlords were issuing a printed circular intimating that the installation of
3.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
MALCOLM MACDONALD, M.P.,
&c., &c., &c.