CO129-572-14 Proposed reorganisation of water services 7-4-1938 - 3-4-1939 — Page 12

6

Gov. Ref. 4.

902

12/12/38

12

-Its of Regulation which has been made under Emergency Regulations Ordée, 1922

in the circumstances stated

I M. L. Smith.

S.O.

7/12/38

Ref. 4 & 5. — habés, apple of Purves, considered rather more thas confidential, was in the list of "Recent Apportunats

& broms "which came out,

one of the and mole of 9/% $88. Does not consides any great

I

Lade

was done.

No. 6.

The abuses described in this despatch

justify, I think, the present emergency Regulation.

Unchecked, they would have led to a general

dislocation of the water supply amongst, at least,

the poorer classes of the Colony's unusually high

population, and the result would probably have been

highly dangerous from a health point of view alone.

From paragraphs 13-15 of the enclosure to

(1) it is clear that the Hong Kong Government

intended that the granting of permission to landlords

for metering of separate floors of tenements should

serve as a means of controlling water consumption and

more effectively preventing wastage, and the

possibility of landlords acting as described in this

despatch was probably not envisaged, at least not on

such a large scale.

The Governor regards the present as an

emergency situation only. In view of the shortage

of accommodation due to the recent large increase

in population, landlords have been put in a strong

bargaining position: but this will presumably be

lost if and when the situation returns to normal and

the relative bargaining strength as between tenants

and