ENG-1958 — Page 179

146

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

In addition, the Urban Council is to be entrusted with administra- tion of the new City Hall, work on which will commence in 1959. The Council is empowered by the Public Health (Sanitation) and the Public Health (Food) Ordinances, and other enactments to make by-laws for the regulation and control of these matters, subject to the approval of the Legislative Council.

During the year the work of the Law Revision Select Committee was completed, the fourth draft of the Public Health and Urban Services Bill being adopted by the Council and forwarded to the Government. Revision of the subsidiary legislation in the form of twenty seven sets of by-laws and regulations is also virtually complete.

The Urban Services Department has three main sub-divisions, the first dealing with sanitation, the second with hygiene, and the third with parks, playgrounds and urban amenities. At the end of the year the overall establishment, other than the Housing and Gardens Divisions, contained 276 administrative, professional and technical officers and 6,341 other workers, including a health in- spectorate of 235 officers, of whom 187 have passed the Royal Society of Health examination for Public Health Inspectors and 48 are probationary inspectors under training. The work of the Gardens Division is described in Chapter 21.

The continued expansion of Hong Kong in 1958, both in terms of population and of building development, necessitated a cor- responding increase in departmental buildings and staff and in the range of their activities. Projects in hand or completed during the year included new bathhouse/latrines and markets.

The increase in establishment for the financial year 1958-9 amounted to some 860 posts. In the main, these were overseers (42), gangers (60) and sanitary coolies (563). The administration was strengthened by 28 clerks, and an additional 19 posts of driver were approved.

District Health Work. Intense overcrowding continued in 1958 to present many serious health problems, and measures designed to achieve the best possible standard of domestic and environmental sanitation continued to be exceptionally important. For the purpose of inspection, the urban area is divided into a series of Health Units, each with approximately 600 domestic floors which include a