The past year constitutes a record in the local building trade, permits having been' issued for the erection of 8,894 structures, of which 7,869 are Chinese houses, the greatest number of structures previously erected in any one year being 5,411 in 1908. Over 60 per cent. of the houses erected have been built on undeveloped land, principally in the Western district. Owing to the unprecedented boom in the building trade a very large number of "mushroom" contractors have made their appearance, many of when: have previously been clerks or small "'jobbing" contractors, consequently without practical experience, usually upon guesswork or the doubtful ability of a foreman to work out their estimates, which in many cases are cut so low that it is impossible properly to carry out the work without serious loss, unless very inferior materials and cheap la-hour are employed, It is worthy of note that the hostile attitude of the local Chinese towards the amended Building Rules, which were framed with the object of decreasing the number of resting-places for rats in Chinese houses, has almost disappeared and in a great number of cases has not been difficult to persuade building owners also to omit the ceilings—always o favourite run for tats—to the ground floor rooms, although the " rat-proofing by-laws do not call for this to be enforced.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.