500 THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 17TH NOVEMBER, 1877.
Νο. 236.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
The following Papers laid on the Table of the Legislative Council on the 12th instant, are published for general information.
By Command,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 13th November, 1877.
CECIL C. SMITH, Acting Colonial Secretary.
SITE FOR CENTRAL SCHOOL. The Surveyor General to the Colonial Secretary.
[No. 45.]
SURVEYOR GENERAL'S OFFICE,
HONGKONG, 25th April, 1876.
SIR,-Having been honoured by His Excellency's commands to prepare a memorandum of the sites which I have examined for the proposed Central School, with a view to the selection of the best, I have now the honour to report as follows:-
2. As the search for a sufficiently large and level piece of ground in a good neighbourhood (the two essential requirements which it is sought to fulfil) has for so long a time occupied the attention of Government, almost every available site West of the City Hall, has in turn come under discussion, so that in reviewing the advantages and drawbacks which attach to each property respectively, I have to touch upon matters with which His Excellency is already conversant.
3. The sites referred to in the following paragraphs will, I think, be the only ones which can be considered in the present enquiry. Better ones of course abound, but as they are thickly covered over with valuable house property, the great cost of their acquisition places them beyond the reach of the Government.
4. Site I. Inland Lot No. 591, the property of the Trustees of Messrs. Augustine Heard & Co., situate on Bonham Road overlooking the Berlin Mission House. (See Drawing A.)-The slope of the ground is very gentle and extremely favourable to the construction, at a moderate cost, of a level plateau. Area 61,500 square feet. Sufficiently large for school buildings and play-ground. Probable cost of resumption by the Crown from two to three thousand dollars. The objection to this site is, in Mr. STEWART's opinion, its distance from the Chinese quarters of the City and from the homes of the scholars whose attendance at the new school might be seriously reduced thereby.
5. Site II. Possession Point.—This is the open circular space known as the Recreation Ground. It is level and contains an area of 56,500 square feet. If the benevolent object of its reservation by Government as a place of public resort for natives has not been fulfilled owing to the want of appre- ciation for open spaces and fresh air so characteristic of the Chinese race, it is worth while considering whether it might not be utilised as a school site, in which case, it would be advisable to include the adjoining block of buildings, coloured blue in Drawing B attached. By this addition, the total area would be increased to 72,400 square feet, and a site formed for the new school and play-ground. The advantages of this site would be: (i.) that the larger portion of it already belongs to the Crown; (i.) that it is level, a merit so extremely rare as to greatly enhance values in Hongkong; and (i.) that the locality is central. Its drawbacks, according to Mr. STEWART, would be the vicinity of the theatres, to which may perhaps be added the disadvantage of the outlay of $29,000 for the purchase of the land and buildings coloured blue in Drawing B. All these considerations, however, are subordinate to the main question of the inadvisability or otherwise on sanitary or philanthropic grounds of putting an end to the place as an open air public resort for the working classes after their day's labour. On this point, there appears to be an equally balanced diversity of opinion among those whom I have consulted.
6. Site III. This site, as seen in Drawing C (coloured purple), includes that on which the present school stands as well as the Bamboo Garden adjoining, coloured yellow, the whole comprising an area of 61,000 square feet, amply sufficing for all purposes. The new buildings would stand on the purple plot, while the yellow would be converted into a level plateau to form the play-ground. Both places belong to the Crown and their position is central, but these two advantages are more than nullified by the steep configuration of the ground which entails the sinking of $18,000 in levelling and preparing for foundations before a single brick could be laid. It should also be borne in mind. that if the new school is to occupy the site of the present establishment, accommodation must be found for the latter during the eighteen months which must elapse before the new premises are fit for occupation, and that the housing, however provisional, for so large a personnel inust of necessity entail a very considerable outlay. What this outlay may eventually amount to, I am unable to say, but the Government may form some estimate from the experience gained in the somewhat parallel case of the Temporary Civil Hospital. In regard to the present Central School site, I should also point out that it will not allow of the new school being built in one single block. The steep slope of the ground prevents this, and in order to keep the cost within bounds it would be necessary to have recourse to a series of two or more parallel buildings on different levels or steps, connected with each other by flights of stairs. Anything more unsatisfactory than this, for an establishment in which the inmates.