15. Redemption of Assisted Emigrants.--Twenty (20) applications of this nature were received as compared with ten (10) in 1923.
(a.) Banca.--Sixteen (16) applications were received, and all the men were repatriated and handed back to their relatives.
(b.) Singapore.--Two (2) applications were received and forwarded to the Protector of Chinese, Singapore, and all the men were repatriated and handed back to their relatives.
(c.) Deli, Sumatra. No application was received during the year as compared with 3 in 1923.
16. Six (6) passage broker's licences at $200 each were issued under the Asiatic Emigration Ordinance, No. 30 of 1915.
17. A classification of assisted emigrants according to language spoken is given in Table V.
THE BOARDING HOUSE ORDINANCE.
No. 23 of 1917.
18. Under this Ordinance Chinese Boarding Houses are divided into six classes for the purpose of licensing and regulation.
19. Class I, Chinese Hotels.--These are run very much on the lines of European Hotels, and are licensed for the sale of alcohol. There are only three houses of this class in the Colony, the Great Eastern, the Oriental and the Stag.
20. Class II, Hak C.--These are large boarding houses, which cater principally for independent emigration and interport passenger business. During the year four (4) new boarding houses of this class were opened. At the end of the year the houses numbered forty-two (42) all of which had renewed their licences. The lawful accommodation provided by these forty-two (42) houses is five thousand and sixty-three (5,063) persons as compared with three thousand three hundred and ninety-eight (3,398) for twenty-three (23) houses in 1923.
The above two classes of Boarding Houses are reported to have done fair business during the year.
21. The distinction hitherto made between 1st and 2nd Class Hak U was abolished and the annual fee for the licence of a Hak U was fixed at $200, and conditions 9 and 10 of 1917 regulations, imposing maximum charges, were rescinded.