ENG-1963 — Page 302

PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

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body, which was to meet on 40 occasions during the year, quickly set to work. The most obvious and immediate need was to reduce consumption. On 16th May therefore, the Colony was placed on a four-hour supply every other day. With the failure of the May rains further restrictions were necessary, and on 1st June the supply was cut to a four-hour period (three hours in low density areas) every fourth day. In the meantime a large number of stand-pipes had been brought into use, in particular to meet the needs of the poorer members of the community who were not in a position to store water, and these provided an alternate day supply. These measures brought consumption down to an acceptable level. From 1st June until the end of the year, for all the requirements of an industrial community of more than three million people, the average consumption amounted to little more than 33 million gallons a day.

Inevitably, these restrictions bore heavily upon every person and undertaking in the Colony, from the individual housewife busied with her family cares to the large industrial units geared to their production schedules. The position of industry, on which the economy and employment of the Colony largely depends, was to some extent at issue. With this in mind the emergency committee set up a sub-committee to consider applications for additional supplies for special industrial users. From its appointment in the middle of May until the end of the year this sub-committee approved 169 applications for such extra supply, involving approxi- mately 2 million gallons a day of water.

But Government was not concerned only with reducing con- sumption. Before the end of May an expert committee, with Mr C. H. W. Robertson, JP, as its chairman, was studying the most effective method of importing water by sea. In preliminary contacts the Chinese authorities were helpful, and the Governor of Kwangtung Province offered to provide water from Canton, on the understanding that the Hong Kong Government would be responsible for its transport. At technical discussions which took place at Canton in the first week of June, the Chinese authorities agreed to provide facilities for tankers to collect water from the Pearl River. Thereafter Government approved the operation of a fleet of tankers sufficient to lift approximately 10 million gallons of water a day.