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$1,530 under Botanical and Forestry Department for a grass lawn at Mountain Lodge in place of the present worn-out chunan tennis court; $1,994 under Education for furniture for the quarters attached to the Kowloon British School, Victoria British School and the Peak School, it having been found necessary to provide these quarters with necessary heavy furniture; under Volunteers a further sum of £13,222 for re-arming the Corps with rifles sighted for Mark VII ammmition, and a sun of X9,371 for the purchase of rifles and equipment for the Volunteer Reserves whose strength has been considerably augmented since the outbreak of the war; $1,000 under Public Works Department for furniture consisting of plan- cases, book-cases and filing-cabinets; and under Post Office $7,000 for up-to-date fittings in substitution for old fittings in the sorting-hall.
12.
The Defence Contribution, the calculation of which is given in Appendix II, shows an increase of $542,325. Of the total amount of $2,241,305, a sum of $298,154 is in respect of arrears during the current year, and these large arrears are the corollary of a large increase in revenue.
13.
The increase of 899,300 under the head "Public Works, Recurrent" is more apparent than real, inasmuch as the expenditure for the current year which was estimated at $481,000 will probably be exceeded by a sum of $107,600, so that the estimated expenditure for next year, which has been framed with a view to avoiding the necessity for supplementary votes, is rather lower than the expenditure for the current year.
An important change has been made in the estimates for 1915 by including under the headings "Buildings" and "Communic- ations" special votes for improvements which have hitherto been charged to the votes for maintenance.
14.
The programme of Public Works for 1915 is larger than that for any previous year principally owing to the large appropriations which have been made for the Wireless Telegraph
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