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propose any such building programme. As you are aware two further houses are just being purchased and two houses and four flats are being obtained by the reconstruction of part of the buildings of the old Victoria Hospital. These additional quarters will, it
is hoped, go some way towards relieving the present pressure on the available supply but they will not render available a sufficient number of houses of more or less unifor pattern to carry out the scheme of individual allotment.
7. I have, however, considered whether the idea of allotment to individual posts might not be carried out on a more limited scale. At present houses are definitely allotted to the Chief Justice and the Colonial Secretary and I have come to the conclusion that permanent residences might also be allotted to the other official members of Executive Council, i.e. the Attorney General, Secretary for Chinese Affairs, Financial Secretary and Director of Public Works, and to the Puisne Judge. In so far as it is desirable to allot official residences as a mark of dignity these are the next senior posts. They are also posts which, with the exception of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, may well be filled from
outside the Hong Kong Service and the advantage of definite allotment is on the whole greatest in the case of outside appointment since the incoming officer is thus definitely assured of a suitable residence, while he has not already acquired any residence of his own in the Colony which he might be reluctant to leave. It has therefore been decided that the houses at present occupied by the Attorney General, Director of Public Works and the Puisne Judge