43
Hongkong.
PUBLIC WORKS EXTRAORDINARY.
93. New Magistracy.-A contract for this work was let to Messrs. Kang On & Co. at the end of January and the demolition of the old magistracy building was commenced shortly afterwards. In the design of the new building, provision was made for an extensive basement, the excavation for which was found to consist largely of rock, considerable difficulty and delay being thus caused in the progress of the work. It was also found that the retaining wall adjoining Arbuthnot Road was in such a defective condition as to be inadequate for the support of the new building and it was therefore almost entirely taken down and rebuilt in lime and cement mortar, the old stone facing being used again. In consequence of these obstacles, the building proper was not commenced until about the middle of May.
On completion of the foundations, excellent progress was made with the building and by the end of the year the walls were approximately five feet above the level of the first floor, the door and window frames at this level being fixed in position. The concreting of the ground and first floors was completed and all steps up to first floor level were fixed. The steel stanchions for columns on east side were fixed in position, some of the surrounding concrete to form the columns being filled into the moulds. A large quantity of joinery was prepared ready for fixing and the work generally was well advanced.
1913 Estimates, $40,000.00 Total Estimates.... $106,000.00 Expenditure to 31/12/13, 1913 Expenditure, 30,370.91 ... 30,370.9194. Sanitary Inspectors' Office, &c.,-Wantsai District. This building, which was fully described in last year's Report, was completed in May, all liabilities being discharged before the close of the year.
It occupies a site at the junction of Wanchai Gap Road and Queen's Road East where formerly No. 3 Police Station stood. No. 3 Police Station was dispensed with in 1903, the buildings, which were old and unsound, being subsequently pulled down.
.$6,000.00 Total Estimates, $18,000.00 Expenditure to 31/12/13, 1913 Estimates, 1913 Expenditure, 5,164.70 13,381.2895. Old Western Market.-Reconstruction.-The old Western Market consisted of a number of small sheds and shops of a very primitive and obsolete description, occupying a site between Queen's Road West and Bonham Strand and to the west of Morrison Street. The site was almost entirely enclosed by privately-owned buildings, fronting on the streets already mentioned, access to it being obtained by narrow alleyways. It had however a frontage of about
Page 44
Page 45
Page 46