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a larger main for the supply of the Hill District on account of the installation of public lighting there. The roads on the Praya Reclamation suffered a good deal in consequence of the extensive building operations in progress in that neighbourhood. The small encroach- ment caused by the old Provost Prison, which has prevented the completion of the Queen's Road widening scheme, still remained at the close of the year, but it is understood that it will soon disappear. By way of experimenting with different classes of paving, a small portion of Des Voeux Road at its intersection with Pedder Street was laid with wood blocks (Borner Camphor wood) and a short length of Queen's Road West was laid with slabs of granite of irregular shape, dressed to a fairly uniform surface. Generally speaking the roads throughout the City were maintained in good condition with concrete or macadam as the case might be.
26. Maintenance of Roads and Bridges outside City.-In the case of the Peak District, a good deal of disturbance of roads was caused by the running of underground cables by the Telephone Co., and by the laying of a gas main in Chamberlain Road to supply the public lamps. As mentioned in last year's Report, Harlech Road and Black's Link are now under the charge of the Public Works Department and make a substantial addition to the ronds of the Colony. All the roads were maintained in good condition, many of those finished with decomposed granite being re-surfaced.
27. Maintenance of Roads and Bridges in Kowloon. The satisfactory maintenance of the roads in many parts of Kowloon was rendered difficult on account of the transport of great quantities of earth from one point to another in order to level off, reclaim or raise the level of various areas and also the large amount of quarrying that is carried on in different parts of the peninsula. Numerous alterations or improvements of roads were undertaken but these will be referred to under the heading of Public Works Extraordinary: "Forming and Kerb- ing Streets". The substitution of macadam for decomposed granite was extended to a number of streets in Yaumati. So far as the circumstances above referred to permitted, the roads generally were maintained in good condition.
28. Maintenance of Roads and Bridges in New Territory.--A number of ther ngh native paths in the New Territory have been improved in an inexpensive way by getting the village headmen to undertake contracts for their formation and maintenance. Though the improvements are not such as to transform these paths into good roads, traffic is consider- ably facilitated and cycling is rendered possible in many places where the gradients admit of it. The road to Tai Po was maintained in good condition except where interfered with by quarrying operations. The flood caused by the heavy rainstorm of the 1st June caused serious injury to one of the piers of the large bridge at Tai Po, necessitating its reconstruc-
tion.
29. Maintenance of Telegraphs.-Telephone lines were constructed between the follow- ing points:-
The temporary Pumping Station, Tytam Valley, and the site of the permanent
Pumping Station, Tytam Bay.
The Exchange at the Central Police Station and the Chief Detective Inspector's
Office.
The Attorney General's Office and the Government Printers.
The Civil Hospital and the Maternity Hospital.
An additional telephone was provided at the Kowloon Disinfecting Station and the positions of various telephones in Government Buildings were altered. With a view to the improvement of inter-departmental communications, a new Telephone Exchange was established in the Government Offices and all lines other than Police lines were removed to it from the Exchange at the Central Police Station, thus bringing all the Government Departments into direct communication with the Colonial Secretary's Department. It involved the construction of a new line with 16, 30-foot iron poles from the Central Police Station to the Government Offices.
The working of the Electric Tramway has rendered it necessary to provide metallic circuits for all lines, a matter which has entailed a great amount of work.