196
( 64 )
806
7
8
9
810
1
2
Q-Queen's Road?
A-Queen's Road from end to end. Macdonell Road, Bonham Road, Hospital Road, Praya, Des Voeux Road-I could not name them all.
Q-You practically have been over them all, then ?
A-Pretty nearly all.
Q-Do you consider the staff as at present constituted for looking after the roads sufficient?
A-No, Sir.
Q-In what way is it insufficient ?
A-I ought to have more help myself. I have got two Portuguese boys down there, and they are not much use to me,
Q-How does the staff compare with the staffs you have been accustomed to work with in other parts of the world ?
A-It is different. You don't have to have an interpreter, in one way, and when you tell a man anything he understands you.
Q-There is a difficulty in the labour?
A-- Yes.
Q-And in what way might the staff, in your opinion, be improved ?
A-I want somebody to understand me when I tell him what to do, and to un- derstand it as well as I do myself.
3
By Mr. Thurburn.-Do you mean Chinese?
A-No-European.
4
Q-Do you go round and pick out the bad places ?
5
6
7
$
A-Yes. I have to look after all the roads and side channels, and repair all the water and sewer trenches that are not properly filled.
Q—There are a good many bad places about the town that were complained of some months ago. How was it they got into such a bad state?
A-When I came here the roads were in a pretty bad state.
Q-They got into a bad state before you got here?
A Yes. I have gone over all the main roads in town since I have been here.
Q-There is a small bit of road between the Hongkong Hotel and the Mercantile That was the first to be laid with blue stone. I think that is a very good piece of road, is it not?
Bank.
A-That is a good piece.
Q-And it has lasted pretty well.
There is a very large amount of traffic there;
is there any particular reason for that, because we hear that blue stone is condemned here?
A-I have not had much experience here of blue stone. It is very hard, and it was broken too large and I could not do anything with it. This stone was put through the crusher, which was turned on to break it in one and a half inch cube.
This was
all that was left when I came here, and they told me to use it, and I put it in at the Naval Yard. That is the only experience I have had of it. The steam roller weighs ten tons, and it would not break it.