THE HONG KONG AND FAR EAST BUILDER
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PORT WORKS OFFICE
The principal works carried out by the Port Works Office for the first nine months of this year are as follows:-
The construction of the widening of the road at Cause- way Bay made satisfactory progress. By January, most of the tidal work had been completed and the pitching of the stone face about fifty per cent completed. By July almost all the piles had been cast and the piling of the cut off wall commenced. At the end of September. this piling work was making good progress in spite of delays by continuous bad weather.
250′0′′ of the sea wall extension at North Point had been completed by June, the rubble mound and all concrete blocks were cast and set in July, and the entire work com- pleted in September. The removal of the foundations of the old bathing sheds at North Point were started in April and completed in June.
Work on the Castle Peak Nightsoil Disposal Station was completed in April.
Plans for the reconstruction of the Harbour Master's Pier and the Kingshan Wharf were completed, during this period tenders were called for the construction of landing facilities at Kennedy Town consisting of realignment of the sea wall and the setting of pre-cast stanchions, and the contract let and work completed in September.
Other planning work by this Department involves reclamation at Aberdeen for the Fisheries Office and extensive reclamation schemes for Hunghom and Cheung- shawan, surveys of the cutting areas for which having been completed in September.
At the airport, the construction of the pontoon landing stage started in January and was completed in April. Con- struction on a new Airport Control Building, including Garages and Workshops, were started in February and completed in April. Drawings for a new annexe to the Terminal Building, including quarters for the airport staff were completed in June and construction work started in August. This department is also in charge of Government dredgers, a very important activity necessary for the double purpose of keeping existing foreshores clear and reclaiming new foreshores. During the first nine months of the year almost 80,000 yards of materials were cleared from various areas mainly at Kai Tak, Causeway Bay, Whitfield and Ma Tau Kok areas, and deposited at Kum Tong and other con- venient locations.
ROADS AND TUNNELS OFFICE
To this office belongs the credit of bringing and main- taining the condition of the roads of the Colony to a very satisfactory state. Whilst there remains a considerable amount of work to be done the fact remains that the im- provement of the roads on most of the main routes has been quite marked and in the Peak district particularly is reach- ing a stage where motoring is a very pleasurable experience indeed.
A fairly extensive programme of road widening has been entered into during the past ten months. This work involved considerable cutting of banks and embankments, filling in of steep cuttings, regrading of channels and june- tions of private roads, surfacing of new and re-surfacing of old, badly neglected roads. A trip through any section of the Colony provides proof enough of the diligence in planning and execution evinced by the personnel of this office.
Quarrying of stone which is under the control of this department both at Hok Un Quarry and at Morrison Hill reached at times a stage when enough stone was being crushed and screened not only for the Public Works Depart- ment, but for sale to private contractors. This latter ser- vice is one it is hoped will be extended as soon as the quarry- ing equipment is fully rehabilitated for, because of the unsatisfactory grading and the high price of the stone sup- plied by private quarrymen, the price of concrete remains comparatively high in spite of the fairly reasonable cost of cement.
The painting of the vision line in the centre of the road at sharp curves and the fixing of the reflectors known as "Cat's Eyes" is an activity of this Department that is very greatly appreciated by the motoring public.
The maintenance of roads, particularly after heavy rain storms, tests the efficiency of this office as the amount of damage done in a very short space of time can be quite considerable and in order to keep the flow of traffic moving freely repair work must be organized at brief notice and efficiently performed in short order.
Particular mention must be made of the Tunnels Section of this office the extent and importance of whose activities in back-filling our own and Japanese tunnels are not generally appreciated. Here are a few facts which highlight this work.
Tunnels
A.R.P. Tunnels were constructed in 1940 and 1941 for Hong Kong Government for the purpose of affording shel- ter to the general public during air-raids or bombardment. The completed tunnels were about 8′0′′ wide X 7′0′′ high with side chambers for use as first-aid stations and sanitary accommodation, etc. The work was incomplete when the Japanese arrived in December, 1941, but even so no less than 10 miles of tunnels had been excavated and of these nearly half the total length was driven through rock and more than 4 miles were driven through earth and laterite and provided with concrete linings.
Japanese tunnels were driven for quite different rea- sons some, like those under the Diocesan Boys' School Playing Fields, were primarily military stores, others were air raid shelters with a capacity of from a score to a hun- dred or more people, while others were again primarily strategic tunnels providing under-cover access to hidden machine gun posts or underground field headquarters. No Japanese tunnels have been discovered for the use of gen- eral public. The heights of Japanese tunnels vary from 4'6" to as much as 5'6", and the widths from as little as 1′6′′ in strategic tunnels to 5'0" in storage tunnels, but although a few have been found with substantial brick portals none are concrete lined and most are mere holes in the ground which penetrate from 40 or 50 feet to as much as 250 feet into hillsides and frequently a number of tun- nels were joined by cross-cuts to form intricate systems with several alternative exits.
Over 400 Japanese tunnel sites, with a total length of over 7 miles, have received attention to date but these only represent those with some sort of nuisance value where roads, buildings, retaining walls or embankments, etc. are threatened by the collapse of the tunnels and there must be more than as many again about which action may or may not be required in the future.
Provision is made in the estimates for expenditure from the Rehabilitation Loan of $2,200,000.00 for "Demoli- tion of Defence and Other Works" and the greater part of this is in connection with tunnels.
Although not possible to give precise figures, it is probable that at least 30% of this high cost can be attribut- ed solely to the activities of looters both during and after the occupation, who made away with the timber tunnel lin- ings and even smashed down the R.C. roof beams in the A.R.P. tunnels to obtain the reinforcing steel for sale. They ran tremendous risks out of all proportion to the value of the loot, and in many cases they performed feats which from an engineering point of view seem quite incredible.
Up to date eleven different kinds of fill have been ex- perimented with, and it is now possible to do adequate fill- ing with the minimum use of cement and expensive granite. Principal material used is local laterite, although in certain circumstances this has to be stabilised with various addi- tions of cement, sand or red earth.
The point of general interest has been the depths at which penetration of white ants has been discovered. They have been found as much as 200′0′′ inside the tunnel with 80′0′′ of cover, and active in the tunnel practically without oxygen where even a match head would not strike! VALUATIONS & RESUMPTIONS OFFICE
Valuations made by this office covered grants for new 75-year leases, 13 properties for a total premium of $83,513.00 being surveyed; 738 properties of a total of $2,390,930.00 were surveyed in connection with resumption and road widening schemes; 546 lots surveyed for drainage clearance, exchange and sundry purposes with a total value of $62,773,380.00; 718 valuations for hereditaments for the Estate Duty Commissioner totalled $22,574,475.00; while 5 properties were valuated for the Quartering Authority of a total value of $992,000.00. WATERWORKS OFFICE
Amongst the activities carried out by the Waterworks Office were very necessary extensions to workshops at Bul- lock Lane. During this period five new
Allen pumps arrived in February and by April three of them were in- stalled and in action. Construction of a new 750′0′′ service tank began in June while boring work at Tai Lam Chung in connection with the construction of the new proposed dam, and at Wong Nei Chong, Hunghom and new Bowen Road reservoirs for the purpose of tracing leaks and siting new storage areas.
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