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What steps will be taken and when to remove such debris and to repair such damage and to ensure that no further portions of the said wall and no earth shall in future fall down or be washed down by rain upon the tombs in the Protestant Cemetery ?
What is the name of the contractor who is responsible for the wall in question ?
4. Is it not the fact that certain houses in Con- duit Road have been served with an intermittent supply of water only during some days in the past summer?
If yes, to what cause is such deficiency of water due ?
Are there any defects in the mains leading up to Conduit Road or is the pumping-power insufficient to raise the water up to that level? Is a Water Rate being collected from the houses in Conduit Road P
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
of shelter for cargo boats and sampans during the typhoon season.'
LAND TITLES IN THE NEW TERRITORY.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved th second reading of the Bill entitled an Ordinance to repeal the New Territories Titles Ordinance, 1902. He said-As has been indicated in the objects and reason appended, this Ordinance is desired because it is found necessary to repeal the New Territories Titles Ordinance which we passed last year. The object of that Ordinance was to establish in the New Territories a system to be confined to the New Territories by regis- try. The system has however in practice been found to be not workable, and moreover it has been found that even if the system was brought into working order it would clash with the principle of the Laud Court Ordinance of 1900 in such a manner as was neither contemplated 5. Is it the fact that the Government is con by the framer or the Legislature when the Or- templating the alteration of the uniform whichdinance was passed. The interpretations "cus- is worn by the Senior Sanitary Inspectors? If 20, will not such contemplated alteration make the uniform of the Senior Sanitary Inspectors resemble that of the District Inspectors? What is the reason for the contemplated change?
In the absence of Hon. Mr. Pollock, Hon. Sir PAUL CHATER put the questions. THE ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY an- swered question 1 as follows:-$818,098.32, $107,874.58,
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tomaryland" and "customary land-holder" in the New Territories Land Titles Ordinance was interpreted in such a way that its effect would seem to be to override Section 14 of the I and Court Ordinance of 1900. By that Ordinance all titles in the New Territories as in every part of the Colony can only be acquired by a grant from the Crown. It is not permissible of course that that principle should be in any way departed from. Happily no in- convenience will be caused to anyone because as a fact the Ordinance was never brought into working, for on the first attempt it was found they could not do so.
The premia amount to $171,393.50; the Crown rents to $772 per annum. The area sold amounts to 49,711 square feet or 1.14 acres; the reas of building land absorbed by the park which is a Public Park and not a Park for Chinese only amount to 46,500 square feet or 1.07 acres. Oned, and the motion was agreed to. the 17th of September the Governor's despatch and the Secretary of State's reply on the subject of laying out a Public Garden in Taipingshan were laid on the table, together with the Estimates for 1904, at page 25 of which a sum of $7,000 was set down for levelling and laying out Taipingshan Garden. I have again to point out that the Park or Garden is Public and not set aside exclusively for any section of the community.
The ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY second.
The DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS gave the following answers :—
Question 2, paragraph 1. The 1st of May, 1899. Date for completion 15th of November, 1902. Name of Contractor, Tsang Keng.
2. It is not yet completed.
3. The whole of the work was included under the contract referred to in first paragraph of reply.
4. Tsang Kong, as already stated.
5. (a) Work was completed in December 1902. (b) It is not possible to say definitely, but there is no reason why it should not be completed by the end of this year.
6. The question of penalty to be enforced will be considered on completion of the werk. The contractor has been repeatedly warned that the penalty will be enforced,
Question 3, paragraph 1. Yes. The accident arose from the heavy rains in the early part of September.
2. The wall will be reconstructed of greater strength. Work is in progress.
3. The wall which fell was constructed by contractor. It Was Yau Kung Cheung, completed in September 1902, and was there fore out of the contractor's hands prior to the date of its failure.
Question 4, paragraph 1. Yes,
2. It has been due in some measure to repeated bursts in the mains, the margin in power of the pumping plant being inadequate to make up for the loss of water occasioned by such bursts. Additional pumping plant has recently been provided which has enabled con- stant supply to be maintained.
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The Bill was then considered in Committee and was read a third time and passed on the mution of the ATTORNEY-GENERAL, seconded by the ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY.
NEW TERRITORY LAND COURT ORDINANCE.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the second reading of the Bill entitled an Ordinance to further amend The New Territories Land Court Ordinance, 1900. He said-The object of the introduction of this Bill is to empower the Governor to act with the members of the Land Court whenever he may deem it expedient with the object of expediting and accelerating the work of the Court.
The ACTING Colonial SECRETARY Second- ed, and the motion was agreed to.
The Bill was then considered in Committee and was afterwards read a third time and passed, on the motion of the ATTORNEY-GENERAL, seconded by the ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY. PUBLIC HEALTH AND BUILDINGS ORDINANCE. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the second reading of the Bill entitled an Ordinance to amend The Public Health and Buildings Ordinance, 1903. He said-As we are all aware, the
Ordinance known 88 No. 1 of 1903, the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance, was passed late last year and came into operation in the early part of this year. That Bill dealt with the vital question of the public health of this Colony. It ran into very great-but not nnnecessarily great-length, "considering the varied nature and importance of the matters with which the Bill dealt. It is somewhat early, perhaps some may think, to amend the Bill, but I think hon. members will readily ac knowledge that it was almost impossible to expect that a Bill could be framed which would meet with every requirement and necessity without requiring some amendment almost immediately following its inception, The Ordinance, which I beg leave to say is a most valuable addition to the statute book, does require amendment in some particulars in order to make it of more practical value. The amendments which are now proposed by the Government are principal ly those which have been suggested and recommended by the Sanitary Board, who have hitherto bad the practical working of the Ordinance under their immediate ken. These suggestions and recommendations appear to me to be admirable in every respect and I believe will commend themselves to the favourable cou- sideration of this Council. Other amendments which we propose in the Bill are sugges'ed not by the Sanitary Board but by others who have had the working of the Bill under their charge and Hon. GERSHOM STEWART gave notice that are responsible for it. In these amendments at next meeting he would make the following it is proposed to create a Sanitary Department. motion That in the opinion of this Council | A Sanitary Department does exist, but it is now it is advisable to increase if possible the means | proposed to recognise it by statute and give the
3. No defects other than those indicated above, which are liable to occur in any main. Yes, & water rate is collected.
The ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY an- swered question 5 as follows:-The uniform of the Sanitary Staff for which there existed no authorised pattern has been revised, and sealed patterns sanctioned. The uniform for the different grades of Inspectors is alike. The object has been to make the uniform as simple as posseible.
NOTICE OF MOTION.
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¡December 14, 1903.
Principal Civil Medical Oficerof the Colony the direct administration of that department by holding him directly responsible. At the present time it is not possible to hold that officer directly responsible because he has no authority where he should have it. An amendment is also proposed with respect to the arbitration clause by which power is given to the arbiters to take into consideration when dealing with claims whether the premises wer enhanced in value by overcrowding. The greatest difficulty the Government have had in preparing this Bill for presentation to the Council is to get a definition of the expression "external air" which would be capable of being given effect to. The amendmout of the present existing definition is made on the recommenda- tion of the Sanitary Board. They report that at present the definition renders it almost impossible to give effect to the real intention of the Ordinanca with respect to the proper amount of light and air that should be admitted iato rooms. A new definition therefore will be submitted for the consideration of the Council which I believe will be found to at last achieve the diffioulty of exactly saying what was meant by "external air." Several other sections have been amended. For instance section 48 is con- sidered by the Board to be unworkable. It accordingly has been recast and I believe it will meet the Board's recommendation. The object that the Board has in view in making that recom- mendation was to expedite the action that was necessary to be taken with reference to the abatement of the nuisance of overcrowding. The present system appears to be cumbrous and to cause undue delay. Considerable difficulty has been found in practice in working the Or dinance with respect to the interpretation that at present is attached to the meaning of the words"room and "cubicle." Hitherto those words have had pretty well the same meaning, but by the amendment proposed to the Bill each would have its own meaning attached to it. A very important alteration too was submitted for consideration with to be respect to Section 251 of the present Ordinance. This section is one of the arbitration sections and refers to the procedure to be adopted where claims for compensation have been put in. The amending Bill will provide that whenever claims for compensation shall be made the claim shall be submitted to the Colonial Secretary on the same day as the plans are filed with the building authority; also it provides that where a claim for compensation is in respect of a matter with regard to which powers of exemption or modi. fication are vested in the Board or the Governor in Council the claimant shall await the decision of the Board or the Governorin Council before proceeding with the works. These amendments have been found necessary by the authority who have the administration of the Ordinance, for claims for compensation have been sent in months after the plans have been deposited, there being no indication at the time they were sent in that a claim was intended to be made, and subsequently when it was intended to exercise the powers of modification made it was found it was too late because the building was already in course of erection. The Council will see at once that these are practical difficulties that ought to be overcome, and this Bill we think is capable of doing so.
The ACTING ColonialSECRETARY seconded. He said-I may mention on His Excellency's authority that it is not proposed to press Section 3 but to hold it over for further consideration; and therefore the Government hopes that the unofficial members will not oppose the second reading of the Bill.
The motion was agreed to, and the Council went into Committee on the Bill.
In Committee some amendments were made and discussion ensued on several points.
Section 2 as printed was passed.
In Section 14 (Sub-section 8) the term "fourteen days" was changed to “five days" so as to lessen the period within which a summons against overcrowding can be applied for to a Magistrate.
In Section 19 (Sub-section 153) (a) it was provided that no cubicle shall be constructed or maintained in any storey of any domestic building hereafter erected “or re-erected,"
Hon. Dr. Ho KAI said that if this applied to houses which had been blown down or taken down for repair to a certain extent and re
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