559
average width of 1' 9" and depth of 1' 6" and, to avoid contouring some long sprs of hillu which project into the reservoir, earthenware pipes, 15" in diameter, are laid in trenches cut through the spurs. In one case, the trench for the pipes reached a maximum depth of 28
feet.
69. Miscellaneous Water-works.-Practically the whole of the expenditure under this vote was confined to three items, viz :—
(i.) Lai Chi Kok Water-works-Water Boat Supply, $16,807 (i.) Main to Sywan Battery, (iii.) Hill District Fire Service,
6,116 3,429
(i.) Lai Chi Kok Water works.-The original scheme, which provided for supplying 200,000 gallons of filtered water per day, was completed in March and the works were at once brought into operation. They consisted of an intake on the Lai Chi Kok stream; a channel and pipes for conveying the water to the filter bed; a filter bed of an area of 200 square yards; a service reservoir of 100,000 gallons capacity; a delivery main, 6" diameter, to convey the water to a point where it could be distributed to the water-boats; and meters and shoots or pipes, supported on stagings, extending to where the water-boats could lie afloat whilst being filled.
Complaints arose almost immediately that the works were inadequate and that the rate of delivery into the water-boats was too slow, and a contract was let in June for the con- struction of an additional filter bed, area 235 square yards, and service reservoir, capacity 100,000 gallons, thus doubling the original works as regards filtration and storage. These extensions were completed in December.
With the further experience gained in the meanwhile, it was considered advisable to further extend the filtering capacity of the works, and a contract was therefore entered into in November for the construction of a filter bed, having an area of 440 square yards or equal to the combined area of the two beds previously constructed. When this has been com- pleted, it is estimated that the works will be capable of dealing with half a million gallons of filtered. water daily.
To enable the water-boats to be rapidly filled, a delivery main, 8" diameter, has been laid in addition to the 6" main referred to above.
(ii.) Main to Syuran Battery.-This main was laid by arrangement with the Military Authorities to enable a supply of water to be obtained by gravitation. It consists of 2,751 lineal yards of 4" cast-iron main, extending from the Mount Parker Catchwater to the Military Works on the summit of Sywan Hill. The Military Authorities contributed the sum of $4,700 towards the cost of the work.
(iii.) Hill District Fire Service.-The question of providing a system of fire hydrants throughout the Hill District has been under consideration for a number of years but the difficulty of giving effect to it has hitherto been that the means of pumping and storing water were inadequate and the supply for ordinary purposes might be depleted if the water were used for fire purposes. The construction of the Peak and Mount Gough Service Reservoirs, the installation of No. 4 Motor with a 3" rising main to the latter and of a new steam pumping engine and enlarged rising main (partly 5" and partly 6" diameter) to the former have in great measure removed these objections and the work has now been under- taken. In all, 57 hydrants are being fixed, and of these, 54 have been completed. In consequence of the high pressures prevailing over many parts of the district, screw-down hydrants have been used instead of the ball-hydrants in use in the City.
70. Peak Supply and Reconstruction of No. 2·Tank.-It has been decided to relegate the latter item to a separate vote and to carry out the former only under this heading. The whole of the works were completed by the end of the year. They comprised sundry extensions and alterations of the old Pumping Station Buildings on Bonham Road, erected in 1891, the erection of a new and much more powerful pumping engine, the installation of 2 new boilers, the laying of a larger rising main to the Peak Service Reservoir and the necessary re-arrangement of pipes and valves in and about the Pumping Station.