Sessional_Paper_1908 — Page 689

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Besides the works appearing in Appendix B, the following were undertaken and paid for out of "Deposits not available", the expenditure to the close of the year being as stated :-

Kowloon Cattle Depôt and Slaughter House,

Extension of Medical Staff Quarters,

Memorial Obelisk at Kowloon to French Sailors lost in

1906 Typhoon,

Boundary Stones in New Territories,

$17,380.94

2,160.27

1,501.16

470.49

The following is a statement of the expenditure in 1907, as compared with that of the previous year :-

Personal Emoluments and Other Charges,

Annually Recurrent Works,

Extraordinary Works,..

Total,......

1906.

1907.

Increase.

Decrease.

203,068,43 219,547.62 16,479.19 379,797.77 520,659.65 140,861.88 1,463,868.66

784,320.30

679,548.36

.$

|2,046,734.86 | 1,524,527.57 157,341.07 679,548.36

The increase in the first item is principally due to the salaries of the senior officers having been paid at the rate of 2/- per dollar throughout the year as compared with an average rate of 2/1§ during the preceding year.

The increase in the second item is principally due to the transfer to it from Public Works Extraordinary of the Vote "Typhoon and Rainstorm Damages" under which the expenditure amounted to $106,659.93, but the amounts spent on "Maintenance of Buildings, Roads and Telegraphs" were also considerably greater.

The decrease in the third item is partly due to the transfer of the Vote just mentioned, which accounted for a sum of $68,949.51 in 1906; to the suspension of Insanitary Property Resumption Schemes, which accounted for a sum of $110,000; to work on the railway by the Public Works Department having been discontinued; to the resumptions of property for road purposes having been much less and to the expenditure on Water Works having been about $260,000 less. It may also be pointed out that the total amount provided in the Estimates for 1907 for Public Works Extraordinary was $351,100 less than that provided in the Estimates for 1906.