W. Chatham

“ Whilst dealing with marine work it may be interesting to record that in 1883 a breakwater was constructed at Causeway Bay to afford a harbour of refuge for small craft during typhoons. The sheltered area is about 60 acres in extent. A scheme is now under consideration, and there is promise of its being undertaken at an early date, for the construction of a much larger harbour of a similar nature off the west side of the Kowloon Peninsula. This, when completed, will afford a sheltered area of 160 acres. ”

“ In that year, a supply derived from springs in some of the larger valleys in British Kowloon was rendered available by pumping, the necessary engines, mains, service reservoirs, &c., having been installed. The quantity obtained from this source was about a quarter of a million gallons a day, which sufficed for a period to meet the needs of the inhabitants, but, by the lime the new territories were acquired (1898) , an increased supply had become a matter of urgent necessity. ”

“ The system has gradually developed, until now there are on the island of Hongkong 95 miles of roads. Of those inside the city 5 miles are roads of 75 feet in width. Similarly in Kowloon, road-making was commenced soon after the territory was acquired, the first sections of Robinson and Macdonnell Roads being constructed in 1865, five years after the Peninsula was taken over. A halt seems to have been called for some considerable period after this, and it was not until about 1892 that any extensive construction of roads was undertaken in Kowloon. ”

“ The growth of the population and the increasing demand for water for industrial purposes soon rendered it necessary to augment the supply, and in 1883 the Tytam scheme was undertaken. The works comprised under it were, relatively to the Pokfolum works, of great magnitude. They included a storage reservoir with a capacity of 312,000,000 gallons, a tunnel and aqueduct, 1·38 and 2·93 miles in length respectively, for conveying the water to the city, a series of filter-beds and a service reservoir capable of containing nearly 5,750,000 gallons. ”

“ These are subsidiary mains controlled by valves, by means of which the supply of water to the houses can be temporarily discontinued without rendering it necessary to obstruct the flow in the principal mains, with which the fire hydrants are connected. The supplies to all European houses, which are connected with the principal mains, are metered.
The only supply obtainable by the inhabitants of Kowloon up to the end of 1895 was from wells, many of which were privately owned. ”

“ Among other buildings of importance and comparatively recent construction are the Central and Western markets, the cattle depots, and the slaughter-houses, all of which are extensive and up-to-date in their accommodation. The city cattle depôt is capable of containing over twelve hundred head of cattle. ”

“ It provides for a reclamation extending from East Point to Arsenal Street, where it will join the Naval Yard Extension, and comprising an area of nearly 84 acres of building land, exclusive of roads. On the Kowloon side much work of a similar nature has been carried out, but, with the exception of the reclamation in Hunghom Bay to form the terminus of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, it has been the result of private enterprise, no general scheme having been undertaken by the Government. ”

“ Hongkong has gained a somewhat unenviable reputation in the matter of collapses of buildings, in some cases attended by serious loss of life, but with the gradual reconstruction of the city which must come in the ordinary course of events, this reproach will disappear, the require- ments of the present Ordinance as regards the thickness of walls and other points affecting their stability being much more stringent than the old. ”

“ MR. PATRICK NICHOLAS HILL JONES, Assistant Director of Public Works, was for several years in Trinidad, first in connection with the construction of district waterworks (loan) , and afterwards as engineer in charge of the water and drainage works of the Colony, before he arrived in Hongkong, in 1903, to take up his present appointment. He was born in 1864, and commenced his technical education at King's College, London. ”

“ The construction, by private enterprise, of a second tramway to the Peak District has been before the Legislature and will probably be commenced in the near future. Railway. — Following closely upon the intro- duction of tramways came the proposal for constructing a railway from Kowloon to Canton, the survey for which vyas undertaken in 1905; and, as described elsewhere in these pages, the work of construction is in progress. This work is being executed independently of the Public Works Depart- ment. ”

“ Matters rem.iined on this footing until 1899, when the Secretary of State for the Colonies directed that in future all leases, irrespective of the situation of the lands con- veyed by them, should be for a term of 75 years, renewable, subject to revision of the Crown rent, for one further term of the same duration. The revenue derived from land sales is very variable, as will be seen from the following statement of the amounts received during the past ten years ”