Q 5
European type house, Tung Shan Terrace, Stubbs Road; block of ten European type houses (four flats each), Wanchai Road; reinforced cement concrete flooring, stairs and roofs to ten Chinese tenement type houses, Sharp Street, East; extension to wharf, Taikoo Sugar Refinery, Quarry Bay; two European type houses, Stanley; one bungalow, Stanley; four European type houses (four flats each), Lai Li Street; Hospital, Kiu Kiang Street; fourteen Chinese tenement type houses (four flats each), Lai Chi Kok Road; two European type houses (four flats each), Nathan Road; six Chinese tenement type houses (four flats each), Taipo Road; one European type house, Norfolk Road; two European type houses, Kadoorie Avenue; two European type houses (four flats each), Sai Yee Street; four European type houses, Prince Edward Road; two European type houses (four flats each), Kadoorie Avenue; two Chinese tenement type houses (three flats each), Un Chau Street; one European type house, Cumberland Road; six Chinese tenement type houses (four flats each), Shanghai Street; four European type houses (two flats each), site 33/4, Kadoorie Avenue; two European type houses, Cornwall Street; two European type houses (four flats each), Fa Yuen Street; two nut oil factories, Castle Peak Road; Office, Castle Peak Road; two tea houses, Shanghai Street; electric sub-station, Castle Peak Road; godown, Mong Kok, Cosmopolitan Dock; godown, Lai Chi Kok; cinema theatre, Nathan Road; weaving factory, Un Chau Street; four European type houses, Ho Mun Tin; two European type houses (three flats each), Argyle Street; one European type house, Boundary Street; club house (Kowloon Football Club), Chatham Road; one Chinese tenement type house (four flats), Chatham Road; Roman Catholic day school (twenty pupils), Chatham Road; godown, Holts Wharf; four Chinese tenement type houses (four flats each), Fuk Lo Tsun Road; one European type house, Ho Mun Tin Hill; storage shed, Hung Hom; one European type house, Kowloon Tong; one Chinese tenement type house (four flats), Lung Kong Road; cracker factory, Ma Tau Kok; film studio, Ma Tau Kok; one European type house, Ma Tau Wai Road; four Chinese tenement houses (four flats each), Nga Tsin Long Road; two European type houses (three flats each), Prince Edward Road; Chinese condiment factory, Ma Tau Kok; four Chinese tenement type houses (four flats each), Sung Wong Toi Street; godown, To Kwa Wan Road; two Chinese tenement type houses (four flats each), Tam Kung Road; weaving factory, Tam Kung Road; five European type houses (three flats each), Waterloo Road; class room (forty pupils), Waterloo Road; four Chinese tenement type houses (four flats each) Wong Tai Street.
32. Occupation permits were issued for 103 Chinese tenement type houses. Of these 64, comprising 237 flats, were erected in Kowloon, and 39, comprising 152 flats, were erected on the Island. Occupation permits for European type houses numbered 85, of which 41, providing accommodation for 144 families, were erected in Kowloon and 44, providing accommodation for 78 families, in Hong Kong.
33. A comparative statement of the number and type of buildings in respect of which plans were deposited in 1937 and 1938 is given in Table VII.
34. The number of water flushed sanitary appliances approved during the year amounted to 1,522.
35. Six fires causing structural damage were reported during the year. The only one in which casualties occurred was the disastrous fire on the 17th November at No. 277 Shanghai Street; the building, a three storey Chinese tenement type house with wooden stairs, floors and roof, was completely gutted and a portion of the roof collapsed. From record plans in the Buildings Ordinance Office, it was shown that the stairs had been constructed in 1910, leading from the rear of the ground floor to the upper floors. There was no direct egress from the foot of the stairs to the street. The fire was thought to have originated on the ground floor. No alternative means of escape was available. Casualties were twelve dead and nine injured.
36. Among the plans for alterations to existing buildings submitted during the year a considerable number were for replacement of wooden stairs, floors and roofs by reinforced cement concrete.
37. Three collapses were recorded during the year, none of which was of a serious nature. No lives were lost.