·350
(218)
Appendix No. 10.
PUBLIC WORKS OFFICE,
HONGKONG, 23rd December, 1901.
SIR,-In accordance with your instructions, I have the honour to submit a report upon the suggestion which I made before the Public Works Commission on the 6th instant, viz., to lay down Australian Hardwood Block paving in Queen's Road from the Government Civil Hospital to Wanchai Market and in Des Voeux Road, say, from the Harbour Office to the City Hall.
2. Two of the many kinds of wood which grow in the forests of Western Australia have recently come to the front as eminently suitable for street paving, these are known as Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata), aud Karri (Eucalyptus diversicolor). A full description of these woods is given in a report by Mr. J. Edine Brown, Conservator of Forests for Western Australia, dated 1899.
3. Jarrah is without doubt the principal timber tree in the Western Australian forests, for general constructive works, necessitating contact with soil and water, the timber of this tree stands foremost. The late Baron Sir F. Von Meueller, the great and well known botanist of Victoria said: "the Jarrah is famed for its indestructible wood, which is neither attacked by the borings of the chelura, teredo, or ternute.” The wood when thoroughly seasoned weighs about 60 lbs. per cube foot, and the prin- cipal uses to which it is as yet applied, are street paving, piles, jetties, bridges, boat- building and railway sleepers.
4. Karri is not so well known as Jarrah owing to the somewhat limited field of its growth, and at present comparative inaccessibility of its haunts, it is very like Jarrah in its appearance, indeed so like, that it takes a good judge of the two to distinguish each. It is hard, heavy, elastic and tough. It is said that for underground or water- works this timber is inferior to Jarrah, and still instances have been known of the timber having been in the ground for 30 or 40 years with only an ordinary amount of decay. For street paving it is most valuable and perhaps superior to its colleague, the Jarrah, inasmuch that its surface does not get so slippery by wear. This timber is now largely used in London for street paving.
5. The method of paving I would recommend is as follows:
A cement concrete foundation at least 6" thick to be laid first formed smooth on the surface and to the shape of the finished road, upon this foundation the paving, formed of blocks soaked in creosote 6" x 6" x 3" to be laid, the joints between the blocks to be racked with fine gravel, and subsequently granted with a mixture of boiling tar and pitch.
6. As I stated before the Commission, I am convinced that macadam roads as they exist here at present are no longer suited for the main thorough fare in the centre of the City.
Doubtless the weight of ricksha traffic is little more than cwt. per inch width of tyre, which is small compared with that of an ordinary loaded two-wheeled cart esti- mated at 9 cwt. per inch width of tyre, but it is the amount of the ricksha traffic which tells.
In 1890, there were 500 ricksha licences issued, and up to date of the current year as many as 1,200,
In 1895, 615 trucks and carriages were licensed, and up to date of this year the number has reached 1,255.