Joseph Rodman West School, No. 163, Farragut Street, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth Streets NW.

Wisconsin Avenue Manual Training School, No. 164, corner Wisconsin Avenue and Thirty-third Street NW.

Grover Cleveland School, No. 165, corner Eighth and T Streets NW.
Randle Highlands School, No. 166, Thirtieth and R Streets SE.

Central heating plant, M Street High, Douglass and Simmons Schools, New Jersey Avenue and M Street NW.

Armstrong Manual Training School addition, P Street, between First and Third Streets NW.

Alexander Crummel School, No. 167, Gallaudet Street, opposite Central Avenue, Ivy City.

Cardozo Manual Training School, No. 168, First and I Streets SW.

Engine house, No. 24, Georgia Avenue and Rock Creek Church Road NW.
Takoma Branch Library, Fifth and Cedar Streets, Takoma Park, D. C.
Western High School addition, No. 117, Thirty-fifth and R Streets NW.
Mortuary building at Tuberculosis Hospital.

Garage and lodge at Fort Reno.

Addition to District cement warehouse, Fourteenth and D Streets SW.

Stable building for street cleaning department, Thirteenth and G Streets SE.
Burrville School, No. 170, Division Avenue and Hayes Street NE.

Military Road School, No. 171, Military Road, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth Streets NW., extended.

Police precinct stations, Nos. 1, 4, 6, and 8, making alterations and installing new cells.

Addition to engine house, No. 20, Wisconsin Avenue, Fortieth and Warren Streets NW.

James Ormond Wilson Normal School, No. 162, Eleventh and Harvard Streets NW. Manual Training School, No. 172, twelfth division, O Street NW., between North Capitol and First Streets.

Rebuilding stable for the street cleaning department, between Ninth, Tenth, N, and O Streets NW.

Pound and stable building for health department, South Capitol Street, between H and I Streets SW.

Northwest wing Western High School, No. 117, Thirty-fifth and R Streets NW.

The plans for the Colored Normal School and the colored men's ward at the Home for the Aged at Blue Plains, D. C., have also been completed, and these buildings will be under construction during the fiscal year 1913.

The municipal architect has continued to show marked ability in the construction of schoolhouses. He secures the utmost for each dollar of expenditure, and our schools and other buildings of recent years are attractive in appearance and models of convenience and safety. The cost has been less than buildings of the same class in other cities. It averaged $0.1574 per cubic foot, while school buildings in the cities such as St. Louis and Boston, which are the nearest to ours in materials and construction, averaged 19 and 23 cents per cubic foot, respectively.

Of the plans of all municipal buildings constructed during the last year, 20 were prepared and designed by the municipal architect and 8 by private architects. With a view to economy, the work has been standardized as much as possible.

The percentage of the entire cost of the preparation of plans, supervision of construction, and commission to architects, on the average yearly cost of all buildings which have been constructed by the municipal architect, is less than 3 per cent.

REPAIRS TO MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS.

All municipal buildings are kept in repair by the superintendent of repairs under the direction of the municipal architect.

The appropriation made for repairs and improvements to school buildings and grounds was $70,000, and this was insufficient to make all the repairs necessary. About 15 per cent of the appropriation was spent on heating apparatus.

There are now about 160 school buildings and 100 other municipal buildings which have to be kept in repair.

Since 1909, $185,000 has been appropriated for the purpose of providing fire protection for school buildings. This has been expended in replacing wooden stairways in brick buildings, with fireproof construction, the removal of all unsuitable fire ladders and fire escapes, improving exits, fireproofing heating apparatus, corridors, constructing fireproof storage for fuel and ashes, and the purchase and erection of fire extinguishers and fire alarms. Practically all of the work of this character necessary has been accomplished, and the school buildings of the city are considered to be in a safe condition.

The present estimated value of school buildings is about $11,000,000, and the commissioners believe that not less than 1 per cent, or $110,000, should be appropriated each year for their maintenance and upkeep.

The amount expended in repairing damages caused by fire in school buildings was about $1,600.

For repairs and improvements to engine houses and grounds $12,000 was appropriated and expended, and for repairs to police stations $5,500 was appropriated and expended.

In repairing plumbing in school buildings $23,573.39 was expended. In Police Court Building $1,000 was expended in repairs.

CONDEMNATION OF INSANITARY BUILDINGS.

The board for the condemnation of insanitary buildings examined 441 buildings, of which 356 were located on streets and 85 on alleys; of these 271 on streets and 47 on alleys were demolished and 107 on streets and 38 on alleys were repaired.

The total number of buildings examined by the board since its creation by Congress on May 1, 1906, to the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912, has been 2,630, of which 1,503 were demolished, 1,031 repaired, and 96 are still pending. Of those demolished 1,081 were on streets and 442 on alleys, and of those repaired 678 on streets and 353 on alleys.

The number of tenants in buildings on streets and alleys compelled to secure other quarters through action of the board during the year is estimated at 795, and the total number since the creation of the board 4,325.

The estimated number of tenants in buildings on streets and alleys benefitted by repairs through action of the board during the year is estimated at 498, and the total number since the creation of the board 3,711.

The assessed valuation of improvements removed on streets during the year is $28,600 and on alleys $3,800. In calculating this assessed valuation only the improvements are considered.

The removal of insanitary and unsafe buildings has been accomplished with the cooperation of owners and agents who have taken the initiative in many cases to have the necessary changes and alterations made to place the buildings in a habitable and sanitary condition. During the year it has been necessary for the board, however, to demolish 14 houses because of réfusal or neglect of the owners to obey the notices of the board. The law provides that in such cases the cost shall be assessed against the property, but this has not been necessary, as the value of the old material in the premises paid for the cost of demolition.

Based upon recommendation of the board, legal action is being taken to convert an alley in square 16 into a minor street, and the board makes recommendation that similar action be taken in alley in square 878.

The board recommends that a systematic effort be made to condemn the interior of squares where the alleys are used for habitation, as has already been done in the case of Willow Tree Alley, converting the ground into playgrounds and social centers, with public bathing pools. It makes specific recommendation that Goat Alley in square 449 be so treated, the estimated cost in this case being $60,000.

PLUMBING AND PLUMBING INSPECTION.

During the year the plumbing office made 45,875 inspections, a decrease of 160 under the number made in the preceding year. The average number of inspections made by each inspector per day was about 16. A number of amendments were made in the plumbing regulations during the year tending toward a simplification of plumbing construction work. Forty-three cases of violations of the plumbing regulations were prosecuted in the police court.

Under the compulsory drainage act, 12 premises were provided with sewer and water connections, upon the failure or refusal of the owners to install such services. The cost of this work was $1,605. Under the provisions of law this cost is assessed against the property.

PLUMBING BOARD.

During the year the plumbing board held 25 sessions for the examination of candidates for license as master plumber and gas fitter. Forty-four applicants were examined, 24 of whom were new applicants, and 20 were applicants for reexamination. Of the former 9 passed and 15 failed, and of the latter 7 passed and 13 failed.

PUBLIC CONVENIENCE STATIONS.

Three public convenience stations are in operation. They are located at Seventh and Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Thirteenth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW., and Ninth and K Streets NW. During the last year the patrons of these stations numbered 2,623,560, and the receipts from pay compartments aggregated $3,040.40. The cost of operation was $10,418.78.

STREET LIGHTING.

There are 15,752 street lamps of all kinds in the District of Columbia, as compared with 14,905 at the end of the last fiscal year, an increase of 847 lamps. These are divided as follows:

Previous to July 1, 1911, these lamps were lighted under contract, but they are now lighted directly by the public utility corporations under rates fixed by Congress in the District appropriation act for the fiscal year 1912.

Nine hundred and forty-one naphtha lamps were replaced during the year with either gas lamps or incandescent electric lamps. This change not only effected a saving in the annual cost of maintenance, but greatly improved the service. The contract price for naphtha lighting was $22.80 per lamp per annum, while the gas lamps are but $18.40 per lamp and the electric lights $15 per lamp per annum.

Experiments have been made during the year with an improved type of mantle gas lamps, on which alabaster globes are used, similar in appearance to those used in incandescent electric lighting.

The lighting of 73 miles of streets was improved by the installation of 100 candlepower incandescent electric lights, in place of existing gas and electric arc lamps.

The appropriation act for the fiscal year 1912 required 400 of the series-inclosed and multiple-inclosed arc lamps to be replaced with 4-ampere magnetite lamps or other form of improved lighting, the change to be made by April 1, 1912. In compliance with this act 201 4-ampere magnetite lamps were installed, and the remaining 199 lamps were replaced by an improved form of incandescent electric lighting.

Legislation is requested by the commissioners in their estimates for the next fiscal year to require steam railroads to maintain lights along the streets occupied on their rights of way. The commissioners believe that existing law requires railroads to pay for such lighting, and legal proceedings are pending to require them to do so. order to remove all question regarding the matter, however, a new law is recommended.

FIRE-ALARM, TELEGRAPH, AND TELEPHONE SERVICE.

In

Seven miles of underground cable were installed during the year and 0.52 miles of cable withdrawn, the total amount of this cable in service at the end of the year being 115.88 miles.

Four and twenty-nine hundredths miles of aerial cable was in service at the end of the year.

Twelve new fire-alarm boxes were placed in service during the year, making the total number at the end of the year 532. The number of fire alarms received and transmitted during the year was 1,163, of which 80 were false.

The total number of patrol boxes in service at the end of the year was 357.

The total number of telephone, telegraph, electric light, and trolley poles in the District of Columbia is 15,829.

GAS AND METER INSPECTION.

Under the office of the inspector of gas and meters, 21,379 gas meters were tested as compared with 10,365 during the preceding year, and the amount of fees collected was $7,090, an increase over the preceding year of $2,632.90.

The legal requirement regarding the illuminating power and purity of gas provides that the illuminating power shall equal 22 candles. Gas is supplied by two public-service corporations, the Washington Gas Light Co., and the Georgetown Gas Light Co.

On 43 days during the year the illuminating power of the gas furnished by the Washington Gas Light Co. was below the legal standard, and on 37 days that furnished by the Georgetown Gas Light Co. was below the legal standard.

Throughout the year the amount of ammonia and sulphur in the gas was wholly within the maximum limits fixed by law."

The existence of hydrogen sulphide in the gas furnished by the Washington Gas Light Co. was found on 56 days and in that furnished by the Georgetown Gas Light Co. on 37 days during the year.

AUTOMOBILE BOARD.

The automobile board examined 2,393 persons desiring permits to operate motor vehicles and issued permits as follows: To operate electric vehicles, 200; gasoline, 1,790; steam, 22; motor cycles, 331. Fifty applicants were rejected. In addition there were issued 82 permits to the employees of the United States and the District of Columbia to operate motor vehicles for use in their public business for which no fee was charged. The revenue received from fees for these permits amounted to $6,022, an increase over the preceding year of $1,562. There were also issued 3,924 identification tags for motor vehicles, the fees for which amounted to $7,848, an increase over the preceding year of $2,534. Of these tags, 182 were for electric vehicles, 3,075 for gasoline vehicles, 35 for steam vehicles, and 632 for motor cycles.

Two permits issued to operate motor vehicles were revoked on the recommendation of the superintendent of police.

PERMITS.

The permits issued by the permit clerk of the engineer department for various purposes other than building permits amounted to 27,195, an increase of 4,178 over the previous year. The fees paid for these permits amounted to $17,910, an increase of $2,894 over the previous year.

EXAMINATION OF STEAM ENGINEERS.

The report of the board of examiners of steam engineers shows that 52 examinations were held and 145 applicants examined, of which 55 were licensed and 90 rejected as incompetent.