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Q.-Now, are you a property owner yourself?
A.-1 have a lot of property.
Q.--In addition to which, I think, you are Assistant Compradore to Jardines, who also have a lot of property?
A. I receive rent for them besides. I am a landlord myself, and receive rent for a number of shops.
Q.-Now, do you think property has decreased in value during the last three years, since this Ordinance was passed?
A.-It has.
Q-And do you think that one of the principal causes for that decrease is on account of the harsh laws of the Ordinance ?
A.—Well, not some of the reason for it, but the whole reason for it,
Q.--Now, can you tell us, taking a fair average, with all your experience, about what percentage rents have gone down in Chinese houses during the last three years, on that account?
A.-Thirty per cent, on the average.
Mr. Fung Wa Chun.-Do you know that people are using curtains instead of cubicles. now, because the law does not allow them to have cubicles ?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you think curtains more preferable and more sanitary than properly built
cubicles ?
A.-Cubicles are much more sanitary.
Q. Why?
A. The curtains are very easily made dirty with smoke and so on, and the wood is more durable than curtains.
The Chairman. Do the curtains give the same amount of privacy, as the wooden partitions, from the Chinese point of view ?
A.—No, because if you speak, the ladies hear you.
Q.-And you can see through them. You can see the shadow on the curtain?
A. Yes.
Q. And if you put your hand against the curtain, the curtain gives way ?
A. Yes.
Q. Whereas, if, with a proper wooden partition, you could not push it back?
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A. Yes. There is another dangerous thing, too. Supposing the wind blows on a curtain, and there is a kerosine lamp there, there will be a fire.
118.-Mr. Shelton Hooper.-With regard to limewashing, what is the cost of lime- washing now, compared with what it was a year or two ago?
A.-It is more than double.
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