Sessional_Paper_1935 — Page 102

98

HONG KONG.

MAINLAND.

Water boats at

Shaukiwan. Aberdeen. Lai Chi Kok.

1931

38.29

30.10

104.33

1932

45.92

28.41

98.76

1933

35.12

25.74

101.49

1934

29.46

30.36

98.70

Grand Total

Increase or

Hong Kong and Mainland.

Decrease.

1931

1932

1933

1934

5,955.76

5,559.24

- 396.52

5,478.94

80.30

6,324.57

+845.63

N.B.- Supplies to Repulse Bay, Stanley, Deep Water Bay and New Territories

unfiltered.

15. It will be seen that the change over from the Rider Main System in Oc- tober, 1932, was followed by a substantial decrease in consumption in the City and Hill District of the Island in 1933. The figures for 1934, however, are higher than for either 1932 or 1933, and it may perhaps be a legitimate inference that this increase is accounted for by the timely rainfall and consequent relaxation of re- strictions during this last year. If this is so it must be admitted that the prevention of waste is mainly dependent upon the measure of physical control exercised by the Water Authority in any given year and that the factor of prevention by economic pressure is not operative under our present system. This would appear to be further substantiated by the figures of water consumption in Kowloon which has never enjoyed a Rider Main System and has not, for some years at any rate, been subject to the same restrictions as Hong Kong. Consumption figures, excluding water boats, show increases of 28.76, 82.69 and 205.71 million gallons per annum in 1932, 1933 and 1934 respectively, which may in part be accounted for by increase in population, but which nevertheless tend to show that the charges for excess water do not in fact act as a deterrent to the wasteful consumer.

16. The fact that they do not do so has been one of the chief grounds of complaint of landlords of tenement houses both on the Island and in Kowloon. The reason is not far to seek nor difficult to understand; it is, quite simply, that the landlords pays for what the tenant consumes.

17. In theory of course this should not be the case. The landlord would estimate the cost of excess water and would pass on this burden to the tenants in the form of increased rent. In practice, however, this is not possible, partly owing to the Chinese method of sub-letting and partly owing to the fact that in the last resort the majority of these tenants are so poor that they are not only unable to bear the cost but in addition are virtually immune from any legal action for recovery. In other words, rents obtainable from Chinese tenement houses are sub- ject to the law of supply and demand but they are also subject to the inexorable factor of the prevailing standard of living.

18. Moreover, at the present time the property market in Hong Kong is in a depressed condition. Over-building and trade depression have resulted in a supply of tenements far in excess of the demand and there are many vacant flats. The time may yet come when the tenants may be made acutely conscious of the cost of excess water but in the present circumstances it is inevitable that this burden should fall on the shoulders of the landlord.