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nance 3 of 1888 Section 27) prohibiting the presence of Chinese women on or behind the stage. This new regulation has been strictly enforced, with good results.
73. During 1914 there were no labour troubles of any note in the Colony. Two small strikes, one of dock carpenters at Hunghom, the other of caulkers at the Taikoo Docks, were engineered, the workmen asking for a rise in wages; but after reference to this Office were soon settled.
74. 13 applications for British Born Subject Certificates were received and reported on: 7 were granted. There were also 3 applications for naturalisation during the year of which 2 were granted.
75. An exhaustive enquiry into the Ferries of the Colony was conducted by a Committee appointed by His Excellency the Governor. As a result, the Ferries Ordinance has been passed, and steps have been taken for the better control of all the piers in the Colony but the completion of the arrangements for the better management and regulation of the Ferry Services themselves has been held over owing to the pressure of other matters since August last.
76. In June a flood of exceptional severity devastated the valley of the West River of Kwong Tung. The first rice crop and most of the mulberry crop were ruined, thousands of houses were destroyed, a number of lives were lost, and much damage was done to the embankments both on the main and on the subsidiary streams. A Flood Relief Fund was raised in Hongkong to which the Government voted $50,000 and the foreign merchants canvassed by Sir Paul Chater generously subscribed another $50,000. The Tung Wa Hospital with Mr. Chau Shiu-ki as chairman raised the splendid sum of $150,000 while a Bazaar organized under the chairmanship of Mr. Lau Chü-pak realised $90,000 in a week. These sums, totalling $340,000, were amalgamated and administered by a representative Relief Committee. It was decided not to amalgamate this fund with that of the Canton Relief Society, but to keep it under our own control.
Messrs. Tong Yat-chun and Chan Yut-ting of the Tung Wa Hospital Annual Committee, and Mr. A. E. Wood, Assistant to Secretary for Chinese Affairs on behalf of the Government, went up the West River to investigate the conditions, and after a sum of about $40,000 had been spent on rice for immediate relief of sufferers, it was decided to devote the rest of our fund to the important and expensive work of mending embankments. In consultation with the Canton Relief Society it was agreed that we should take as our province the three districts of Ko Yiu, Ko Ming and Sz Wui, where the damage to embankments was most severe. Personal investigation of over 50 embankment-districts, each with one or more breaches of varying lengths up to 700 feet, was made by Mr. Tong Yat-chun, who sacrificed much time and comfort to this work, and by Mr. A. E. Wood,