M 6
# CONSERVANCY
The City Conservancy Contractor re-started payment of his fees at the beginning of March and from that date until July he paid monthly in addition to his regular fee a half-fee towards the liquidation of his arrears. Unfortunately the beginning of July saw another flood, even more destructive than that in 1914, descend upon the West River basin and the Contractor, being unable to collect his debts from the cultivators, had again to be allowed to defer his payments. Nothing further was paid by him during the year. The Contractor for Kowloon was for the same reasons allowed to pay $250 per mensem from 1st August until the end of the year instead of the full $750, the balance with interest to be paid up in monthly instalments from March, 1916, onwards.
In addition to their losses from floods the Contractors suffered heavy losses from the depredations of the pirates who infest the channel from Bocca Tigris to the nightsoil depôts at Wong Lin. These pests held the Contractors' boats and their crews to ransom continually and enforced prompt payment of their levies by burning the former and murdering the latter when there was any delay in making payment. After much pressure the Chinese Authorities were induced to provide an armed launch to escort the boats through the danger zone; but, as this form of protection necessitates the use of towing launches for the junks, in order that they may keep together round the escort, the Contractors cannot be said to have been entirely freed from these unexpected charges.
On the 1st April the bucket latrine at Tank Lane was closed and replaced by a trough-closet under the South side of Blake Gardens. A new trough-closet was opened at the top of D'Aguilar Street on the same date.
For the loss occasioned by these trough-closets and by the closing of the Queen's Road East Latrine and the opening of the Pottinger Street trough-closet at the end of 1914, the City Contractor was granted a reduction in his fee of $600 per mensem. Later in the year this rebate was increased to $950 per mensem with retrospective effect. He also received a "War Condition" rebate of $150 throughout the year.
# HOUSE CLEANSING
The building activities of recent years combined with the extension of the house-cleansing spheres to such outlying places as Shaukiwan, Kowloon City and Cheung Sha Wan had gradually reduced the rate of cleansing from 4 complete rounds per annum to 2 or even less in some districts. In order to bring back the rate to the original standard, provision was made for additional Inspectors and 4 gangs of coolies. Two new Health Districts were created in Victoria, namely, La-2 and 6A-7, comprising portions of old Health Districts 1-2 and 6-7 respectively. Kowloon was again divided into 3 Health Districts. The speed of the cleansing circuit was further increased by making "Cleansing" part of the programme