563234-1929-Minutes--No-8 — Page 3

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THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, JULY 26, 1929

in anti-malarial work, he deferred making an appointment to the vacant post until Dr. WELLINGTON'S advice could be obtained. After due con- sideration Dr. WELLINGTON has recommended that the post be filled by the transfer to this Colony of a Health Officer who has had long experi- ence in Mosquitology and anti-malarial works together with a Sanitary Inspector similarly qualified. The Secretary of State is being asked if the transfer of suitable officers can be arranged. It will be necessary to increase the amount provided for this Service when the exact terms of transfer are known.

It is intended that these officers shall form the uncleus of an anti- malarial branch of the Medical Department. They will train local recruits and they and their staff will make the detailed anopheline surveys which are a necessary preliminary to any economic and efficient anti-malarial campaign, which has for its basis the destruction of the breeding grounds of those species of anophelines which are active agents in the spread of malaria.

6. The Hon. Mr. J. P. BRAGA, pursuant to notice, asked the following questions :—

1. What are the respective dates and amounts of the premium paid for Crown land leased to the Kowloon Tong and New Territories Develop- ment Co., Ltd., under Clause 5 sub-sections (a), (b) and (c) of the Agreement dated 26th October, 1922, between the Government and the Company?

2. Is it a fact that there is still owing by the Company to the Government

a sum of $318,450.14 as the balance of land premium ?

3. In view of the fact that about one-sixth of the estimated total cost of land and building is paid by each out of the 242 subscribers to the Scheme upon his signing the Agreement with the Company, and before any actual work is commenced, what is the explanation for the large sum stated in Question 2 being still unpaid to Government in respect of land premium?

4. Has the Government knowledge of a circular letter, dated 2nd July, 1929, issued over the signature of the Managing Director in which the sum of $2,990,258.49 is stated as the sum which represents the total amount payable by the entire body of Subscribers under their respective Agreements in respect of all the houses embraced within the Scheme", i.e., the Kowloon Tong Estate Scheme?

5 Is it a fact that the signatory of the letter referred to in Question 4 besides being the Managing Director of the Kowloon Tong and New Territories Development Co., Ltd., is also the paid architect of the said Company and a Director of the Hong Kong Excavation Pile Driving and Con- struction Co., Ltd., with which the Contract for the carrying out of the scheme has been entered into by the Kowloon Tong Company?

6. Between the period when the last Managing Director left the Colony early in 1928 and the appointment of the present incumbent to the office on 22nd May, 1929, is it not true that no Managing Director existed, and this being the case to whom did the Government look for the fulfillment of the Agreement of 1922 during that period?

7. Was the Government cognisant of the fact that for the carrying out of a scheme involving in the end a sum of nearly $3,000,000 (irrespective of the Government share) there was registered a Company with a capital limited to a liability of only $20,000 of which not more than $2,000 was actually paid up?

8. Was it considered prudent to vest in a Company the right and power of absolute control of a scheme involving a few million dollars in its execu- tion when its only visible capital was a sum of $2,000 with shares paid up to the extent only of 10 cents each?