The average number of separate works under construction (exclusive Municipal works) at one time was 643, being least in January, 439, chest in June, 620; gradually ling to. 607 #8 December. It is not surprising that' there " should fave been a few accidents during construction. The most. - exten-these, fortunately not fended by serious injury, to life, occured upon a large block of storied residences in. Bubbling Well Read, when on July 24 some of the buildings collapsed, the debris falling on the road at an hour when there was little trafic; it probably entirely due to this fact that serious disaster was avoided. So far as a careful inspection and enquiry after the accident could reveal, the accident was caused by scaffolding being erected upon a first floor balcony without support from the "ground. Some Belncipals were pur into position fore the supporting walls had reached their full height and were carried by this seal fold: the last straw may be said. to. have been ided to the camel's back when the bricklayers put planks resting the tiebeams to. support their bricks for constructing the last few feet of the wall, the balcony over ned, the roof' principals fell and of two outer the opinion of the. writer, the accident was definitely due to careless and "faulty construction: methods, and not to any inherent defect in the work already, completed. The direct "cause of the faulty work appeared to lie with a subcontractor. Two ether minor collapses of walls in Sinza Read were also traced to faulty construction methods.
The collapse in the Bubbling Well Road called attention once more the fact that registration of a fehitects in the Settlement is not te-wired; the history of the efforts trade to require registration will be found in the Annual Report for 1909. Tt is. not perhaps. amiss. to call attention ut this. tims Advisablity also of the registration of buildin for investiga (hich ig sometimes only financial) but mainly, 20 that in this land of many middlemen and sub-contractors, some ons contractor may' be made responsible for the general conduct of construction operations. Schools are dealt with individually by the respective headmasters "at some considerable length indicating a very healthy tone throughout the educational service.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.