PRAYA
(Contd.)
_26484)
"Bindihi": Towndweller's' contribution was most interesting I move a hearty vote of thanks. Riding on a tram I was musing upon what used to be Wanchai Bay. Where did the old sea-wall run. I'll bet that the average person will say it ran along the seaward pavement of Johnston Road. It didn't. The tramlines were shifted out. The old seawall ran just about a foot to the side of the most seaward tram rail.
"Geodite." "I see they have found masonry under the City Hall, which is thought to be the old Praya Wall in those days? Maybe you've noticed in the demolition of the City Hall that there's quite a substantial hill been cut away at some time in the past, obviously the end of the spur on which the P.W.D. offices stand. Apparently that spur went right down to the water. The masonry is probably the foundation of a building of some sort. Or maybe only a drain or a path or perhaps a well or water tank?"
PRAYA RECLAMATION SCHEME
In reviewing the public works undertaken in this Colony by various administrators, a great deal of space will have to be devoted to reclamation works. Successive Governors have seen the wisdom of having deep water right up to the Praya and have not hesitated to spend millions of dollars on this work.
It is of that splendid achievement, the Praya Central Reclamation that I write to-day. In an earlier article (see 5/9/33) I pointed out that this Reclamation was commenced in 1890 and completed in 1902. The sea wall, constructed for the purpose, measured two miles in length and the land obtained by the scheme had an area of 63 acres.
Interesting facts concerning the construction of the Praya are contained in an article, published in the Hong Kong Telegraph about three years after the work was commenced.
A superficial observer, the paper remarked, would say that reclaiming land from the sea was a simple matter, requiring no great thought and involving only the dumping of a few million piculs of earth into the harbour. Actually, it was as difficult and intricate a piece of engineering as building a railway.
By April, 1893, Section 7 of the Praya Central Reclamation was rapidly approaching completion. It extended from the end of Ice House Street to Murray Wharf, next to the V.R.C. swimming Bath. The length along the new sea front was roughly 1,450 feet.
The width varied, as the old Praya was not straight and the new one was perfectly straight.
The width of the reclamation at its broadest part just off Ice House Street was 575 feet. At the V.R.C. end it was 100 feet less. The area thus won from the low tide mud may be put down in round figures at 760,000 square feet.
The depth of the made ground varied from 25 to 30 feet at the north-west end, down to 15 feet at the east limit, and less in some other parts. Not less than 7,000,000 cubic feet of earth was laid on this section. No refuse was used at all. The material was mostly red earth and stone, brought partly from Chinese territory, partly from Government land and partly from Quarry Bay. All of it was supplied by contract.
A good deal of solid masonry was put into Section 7. About 45,000 cubic yards were used along the sea wall and nearly 1,000 cubic yards in the retaining wall to the north of the cricket ground. Nearly twice as much again was used in foundation work and concrete bedding.
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