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type are projected for the services to Tai O and Tsuen Wan. The timetables have been satisfactorily reorganized, except at Tai O, where the lack of a good anchorage and remoteness from Hong Kong make it difficult to arrange a schedule that will meet all needs. Serious efforts are now being made in this direction, and there is hope that a successful solution will soon be evolved.
There were no serious outbreaks of fire in the District during the past year. Cheung Chau, Tai O, and Tsuen Wan, however, are very inadequately supplied with fire-appliances and the possibility of a conflagration in one of these places is a constant menace. The elders of Cheung Chau which is a prosperous and progressive township have lately shown great interest in the question of fire-appliances and tentative negotiations have been entered into for the purchase of an up-to-date portable fire-engine out of funds collected locally. Tai O and Tsuen Wan are, unfortunately, relatively poor communities and show little sign of raising sufficient funds for this purpose. Tsuen Wan is not entirely unprotected as a fire-engine from Kowloon can reach it in twenty-five minutes. Tai O, however, presents a very difficult proposition as the fire-float takes over two hours to reach this outlying station. An endeavour is being made to get the inhabitants to contribute half the cost of a small fire-engine on the same lines as an older appliance was purchased some years ago for Cheung Chau.
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There has been a keen demand for bathing-mat-shed sites on the Castle Peak Road and the beaches there may now be said to be very fully occupied. Parking-places near most of the beaches have been provided-an improvement which is greatly appreciated by car-owners.
Tai O.-Business was slightly better than during the previous year. The fishing population had a successful season and the "Wong Fa" catch was particularly good. There are two distilleries in Tai O which do business on a small scale and an increase in output is reported. The demand for salt was smaller than usual-a decrease which is probably due to the famine conditions prevailing in parts of China during the drought. There was one outbreak of fire only.
Cheung Chau. The development along modern lines of this rising township is greatly hampered by the shortage of land available for building. The demand for house-sites continues to increase, and it may be necessary in the interests of the community to put in hand a fresh section of the projected reclamation on the foreshore.
Lack of water and lower prices again combined to affect the prosperity of the market-gardens.
Thirty-four stalls were occupied in the market and business generally was fair,