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in the mortuaries have been obtained from England. The whole of the com- pound is covered with lime concrete 4 inches thick, finished off with two inches of fine cement concrete and a special drain is provided from the buildings to the harbour, no other drains whatever being connected with it.

81. Rainstorm Damages.-The following is a statement of the expenditure incurred in making good the damages caused by the heavy rainstorms, notably those of the 27th-28th June :—

Repairs to roads in the City,..

..$8,152.56

Do. do.

without the City,

Do.

do.

in Kowloon,

Do.

do. in New Territory,

Do.

to nullahs,

Do. in the Colonial Cemetery,....

Cleansing sewers,

Ke-building wall at Yaumati,

522.18

5,090.83

3,533.14

2,533.17

2,367.89

1,236.36

668.28

A number of landslips occurred and some bridges were destroyed. The inverts of several of the old trained nullahs suffered considerable damage.

82. Resumption of Land in New Territory-It was considered advisable on sanitary grounds to resume some low-lying land in proximity to Starling Inlet Police Station with a view to filling it in and draining it properly. The compen- sation payable to the various owners was assessed by the Land Court under the powers vested in it by Ordinance, an area of 5.55 acres being resumed. Stones had been fixed in 1902 to define the boundaries of it.

83. Mast for Weather Signals.-In order to provide for a system of flag-sign- alling to indicate the existence of bad weather in the various parts of the China Sea, an additional mast was erected at the Signal Station on Blackhead's Hill, Kowloon. The mast is 82 feet in height, the lower mast being of steel and the top mast and yard of Oregon pine. The yard is 45 feet long. A winch is pro- vided for lowering the topmast and yard during typhoons. The mast was made and erected by the Dock Company before the close of the year.

84. Tanks in Nos. 9 and 10 Health Districts.-Consequent upon the experi- ment conducted by His Excellency, the Governor, Sir HENRY BLAKE, which included the establishment of hot-water tanks and bath-houses in Second and Third Streets, for the purpose of promoting cleanliness among the poorer Chinese and thus mitigating or preventing the spread of Plague among them, the erection of a number of large bot-water tanks was proceeded with in the Health Districts al- ready mentioned. The tanks are constructed of sheet iron," thick, and measure 8 feet long by 3 feet wide by 2 feet deep. They are provided with furnaces underneath and are designed to enable articles of furniture principally bed- boards-to be dipped in them so as to free them of vermin. The sum expended was only a small portion of the total cost, the work not having been undertaken until the latter part of November.

85. Resumption af Kowloon Inland Lots 1012-1015.

Resumption of Strip of Kowloon Inland Lot, 1087.-1 hese resumptions were effected in order to make provision for the construction of main thorough- fares in Kowloon, which it is intended to lay out with a width of 100 feet. One of these, crossing the king's Park, is already in progress (vide paragraph 69) and it is intended to proceed with another leading northwards in continuation of

Robinson Road.

86. Victoria Hospital. The Jubilee Committee having found that the funds at their disposal did not admit of the completion of the Hospital and Quarters with all necessary fittings, the Government undertook to make good the deficit, which it was estimated would not exceed $3,400. Only a portion of this sum was re- quired up to the close of the year, the balance being payable in 1904.

In accordance with the arrangements made when the Jubilee Fund was started in 1897, the buildings, which had reached completion, were formally handed over to Government on the 7th November. The site for the hospital, which is on Barker Road, about 1,100 feet above sea-level, was granted by the