498
In addition to the foregoing a balance of $489.76 due for the section of nullah past the Lin Fa Kung Temple completed in 1906 was paid and a sum of over $300 was expended on sundry repairs and extensions.
Item (i) comprised three nullahs-one lying to the south of Albany Service Resevoir, crossing May Road about midway between I. L. 1772 and the Peak Tramway, and extending a distance of 137 feet above May Road; another between I. L. 1633 and the Peak Tramway, commencing at Bowen Road and extending to the culvert which passes underneath May Road; and the third lying to the eastward of I. L. 1633 and extending from Bowen Road to a point 206 feet south of May Road. The first two, with the excep- tion of a length of 137 feet above May Road, which is of smaller section, have a depth of 5 feet and an average width of 4 feet 3 inches and are constructed with concrete inverts and rubble masonry side walls. The third is of similar dimensions and construction between Bowen and Magazine Gap Roads, above the latter of which it becomes variable in section, the portion above May Road consisting merely of making good the rocky bed of the old stream-course with concrete.
Item (ii) consisted of a covered stone drain, 2 feet square inside, extending from the east end of the public laundries to an existing culvert crossing underneath Kennedy Road. It replaces an old open channel.
Item (iii) forms part of a considerable improvement scheme, being executed in advance to enable the Gas Company to lay a new main on the line of a proposed road diversion and so avoid the trouble and expense of diverting it later.
Item (iv) comprised a number of semi-circular channels varying from 3 feet to 1 foot in diameter and formed of lime and cement concrete. The larger ones were rendered with cement mortar inch in thickness.
Items (v) and (vi) consisted of lime and cement concrete channels of semi-circular section and 2 feet in diameter. •
Item (vii), which was the largest work of its class undertaken, consisted of an ex- tension southwards of the trained nullah conveying the waters of the Tai Hang Valley into Causeway Bay and sundry smaller works.
The Tai Hang Valley is extensively used by the washermen of Victoria for clothes-wash- ing operations, a small dam and series of tanks for their accommodation having been con- structed in 1899. From the tanks downwards until it reached the flat area of land bordering Causeway Bay, the stream-course had remained in its natural state, being very irregular and strewn with huge boulders, with the result that the effluent from the washing tanks formed pools of filthy, stagnant water. This state of affairs has been remedied by the training works executed which embraced the whole extent of the stream-course already described, the portion crossing the flat area of land already referred to having been trained many years ago. The nullah has a depth of 10 feet and average width of 9 feet and has been con- structed with rubble masonry side-walls on lime concrete foundations. The invert was Paid for a length of 200 feet with granite ashlar 12" deep and for the rest of its length. (708 feet) with cement concrete varying from 3 to 6 inches in thickness. The branch nullah running past the Lin Fa Kung Temple was extended to meet the new main nullah, and three bridges, consisting of cement concrete 6" thick, reinforced with 7/8" steel bars spaced 6" apart, were constructed across the main nullah. The portions of the old stream-bed adjoining the nullah were filled in with earth, the quantity deposited amounting to 10,000 cubic yards.
73. Large Flushing Tanks for Main Sewers and Substitution of Iron for Earthenware Pipes. A flushing tank of 4,050 gallons capacity was constructed at the junction of Queen's Road West and Water Street, for flushing the low-level sewers extending from this point to French Street on the east and to the western extremity of Queen's Road on the west. A syphon conducting the latter sewer under the Shek-tong-tsui nullah has been removed in order to increase the effects of Aushing. The water for filling the tank is obtained from the Water Street nullah.