ENG-1948 — Page 108

door-there is no back door-into a partially roofed-over space, one side of which is reserved for cooking, and the other side for storage of dried grass, the principal fuel. An inner door gives entrance to the single room, the rear portion of which is screened off with wooden partitions for use as a bedroom. Over this rear portion, raised some 8 feet above the floor level, is a wooden plat- form or gallery known as the "cockloft" which is used for storage purposes or for extra sleeping accommodation if the family is large. The house has no ceiling, except the rafters and tiles, and no chimney.

Windows are few.

Dwellings are sometimes built in rows of a dozen or so in the large villages, with the front of one row facing the back of another row; whilst at other times they are built irregularly to conform with "Fung Shui" ("wind and water"), a form of Chinese geomancy which traditionally governs the siting of dwellings and graves. The streets between the dwellings are usually not more than six to eight feet wide, and the drainage is primitive. Latrines are erected apart from the dwellings, and are similar, though inferior, to those still found attached to some rural cottages in the United Kingdom. The houses are for the most part kept in reason- able repair and the structural design is never altered. Furnishings consist usually of trestle beds, perhaps a table, and a few small stools.

European-Type Housing.

Within the City of Victoria and in Kowloon the European resident lives chiefly in blocks of flats about four storeys in height. These flats are very similar to those in large towns in the United Kingdom, with the addition of servants quarters. In the suburbs of both the City and Kowloon the European residence is a detached or semi-detached two or three storeys building not unlike those in suburban areas in the United Kingdom, but usually with verandahs attached to meet the requirements of the semi-tropical climate. Many permanent Chinese residents also favour the European type of residence. A system of roads cut into the steep hillsides has opened up the rural districts of Hong Kong including the Peak, and many large houses of European type have been erected the fine sites thus developed.

on

In spite of the numbers of buildings which had been erected or repaired since the end of the war, the shortage of European-type houses and offices remained acute during 1948 as a result of the immigration of wealthy business men from unsettled

from unsettled parts of China and also an increase in the number of business men from overseas, many of whom were accompanied by their families. Fair progress was made in the erection of large blocks of flats both by Government and private enterprise. The rehabilitaton of hotels and

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