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"THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
This is a work which ought to be taken in hand; seloots 1 by a strong Com hittes in 1896 for the instantly and oa ried ou promptly in its entirety::| purpose; of a Post Ofta, w tose report was Another urgent publio work from a sanitary approved by the Governor an l Council and not opoint of view is the overhauling and coleansing objected to by the Secretary of State Messrs, of the storm water drains-old and new--which Cooper, Thomson, Chater, McConachie, ^and are still practically sewers and a grave danger Sir Thomas Jackson were the members of the to the Colony. Mr. Drary clearly attributes Committee. Their opinions and recommenda- the steady increase of typhoid in the Colony to tions were set aside ́ia 1898-in"Pablie Works | these drain-sewers.
Committee by the vots of the Chairman only, the Director of Public Works newly arrived in the Colony.
10.-There are hundreds of houses in the Colony condemned by every sanitary authority who has ever inspected them as uninhabitable either in whole or in part. There is nothing in the Estimates to indicate that this evil is to be attacked in any way. It cannot be done without expense. Either these honses shoull be bought up and reconstructed by the Government, or the owners should be forced to -r-construct and improve, with compensation, or Government should build model premises for the poorer classes of Chinese at Taipingshan or elsewhere; but there is evidently no settled plan for deal. ing with these houses and no money provided by the Estimates for even a single experiment in this line.
Why is not something done or attempt to be dons, after all the years of enquiry and report ? The Estimates for 1910 provide for an expen- diture (Items 24 and 25 details extraodinary public works) of about $15,000 for sewerage of Victoria and miscellaneous drainage works, but these are of the ordinary obaraoter and do not attack the sanitary problem in any way.
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*[ December 2; 1899.
continuous water supply notomored ye our present” but for the growing population. A vote of $15,000 for nililitional water supply in the island is wholly inadequate.
If the Staff is not strong enough to carry on the works necessary forian sularged supply, it would be-economy-trae «mconomy--to get a separate staff of Engineers equal to the work, as was done when the Taitam› Reservoir» was taken in hand, and establish a separate depart- ment. The Colonial Revenue is three millions However strong may be the argumentsi from | and a quarter. The ordinary expenses of govern- convenience in favour of the site of the presentment and of the maintenance of existing works Post Office and Supreme Court for the can is two millions and three quarters. There is straction of the new Post Office, they become roughly half a milhonsa (yeareszvailable» for valueless, and worse than valueless, when it is Extraordinary Public Works together with the discovered that the site can not be made use of surpluses from past years. for an unknown period, not less, at the very least, than five or six years.
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13.—In conclusion, the first place in point of urgency should be given, in the appropriation It may be that the present site is the more com- of the Colonial Funds for Extra Works, to the venient and the more central for the new Past sanitary wants of the Colony and among the Offee and Treasury than the Reclamation site) sanitary wants of the Colony, there stands in although there is much to be said on both sides the forefront the pressing necessity of getting and the older and more experienced men in the rid of the causes, or of any possible causes, of Colony favour the latter and think that in a the visitations of plagas. . In that connection very short time it will be the true centre of the necessity for an adequate number of latrines the Colony), but these arguments, if they were ·comes · first, and no estimate for 1900 which very much more cogent than they are, must sure does not provide for this can be satisfactory, ly give way to the contention that on the Ba-Perhaps the next most important public work elamation site a new and perfect Post Offee from the point of view of health is the water could be completed in two years from date; + supply. The increase of the water supply is (there are local architects who could most cer- hardly a work to be completed, like the latrines, tainly do the work if the Government are in a few months. It should be continuous over In the Estimates there is a list of 32 items of unable to do it), while if the present site is to a number of years, but the amount (allotted for Public Works Extraordinary to be commenced be the site of the new Post Office we must drag it each year should bear a large proportion to or gone on with next year and the one or two along in our present discreditable state for five the total amount of mousy available. really urgent and necessary public works (non-years more, going from bad to worse each year sanitary) that in the opinion of every man is the Colony ought to figure in that list are not there. The shelter for chair coolies at the Peak. a more files bita so far expense is con. cerned, is omitted, although it might well, it is so small, be brought into the ordinary currat expenditure. It is a work which every oon. sideration of humanity should impel to the speedy constraction. It is a question of the health of the working men, who for our con venience are exposed to all the inclemencies of the weather. It should be put in hand and oo apleted before money is expended on a Peak Residence for the Governor. His Excellency is provided for but the boolies without a shelter wil saffr. Quly $1,000 to $1,000 is ranired for the shelter, yet it cannot be done. Why not P
No plans or details of the building have yet been laid before the Public Works Committee in connection with the Governor's Peak Re- sidencs for their approval, and no money has been voted for it, yet money is being spent on the site.
11.-The most important and most pressing public building is undoubtedly the Post Office Fifteen years ago it was reported in the plainest language that the present Post Office was much too small for the work which had to be done in it. In 1896 a strong Committes reported :—
"The accommodation in the Post Office, in spite of the recent arrangement by which the offices of the Attorney General and Crown So1i. oitor have been placed at the disposal of the Department. is s> cramped that there is not sufficient room to sort two heavy mails at time, while the s, oe devoted to the business of the Parcels Post is insuficient to secure the safe custody of parcels."
There has been a vast increase in the business of the Post Office since that report was written. There are many more mails coming in. There will soon be a fortnightly German mail in ad- dition. Captain Hastings's reports emphasize more emphatically the need of space and the impossibility of working the Post Office with ordinary success without more space. The easy and successful working of the Post Office is of the first importance not merely for the business of Hongkong but of all China and Japan. The Post Office is a most successful revenue making Department, yet the construction of a new Post Office is put off until the Law Courts are finished, in other words, ud Kulendas | Gracons, for no one knows when the new Law | Courts will be commenced. Government land previously appropriated for the purpose is lying idle. Interest is being lost on the money sunk iu its reclamation; it is abundantly ample in size for a first class Post Office and most con 、veniently situated; it is n ́uite deliberately
as business grows.
As to the financial aspects of the case, & letter from the undersigned to the Chamber of
ommerce of the 17th ultimo (copy attached) shows clearly that the Treasury would profit largely by the removal of the Post Office and Supreme Court from their present position and by the sale of the land.
If the Public Works Department were pro- perly manned or if private enterprise were availed of, there is no reason why both the new Law Courts and the Post Office should not go on together.
12,-Next in order to the Sanitary Works already indicated, and to the shelter at Victoria Gap and to the Post Office, would appear to come in importance the speedy extension of our means of obtaining, storing, and distributing Water. The -waterworks are estimated to bring in a revenue to the Colony in 1900 of] $132,000. The actual cost of maintenance is estimated at $19,700, leaving a balance to credit of Water Account of say, $112,800 It is pro posed to spend on Water Account a sum of $73,000: $15.000 in carrying out the Taitam Extension. $27,000 on waterworks in Victoria and the Hill District, $11,000 on meters, o, and $20,000 on water supply in Kowloon
In respect of this latter item no plans appear to have been prepared or submitted and there fore in obedience to the Secretary of State's in- structions of 18th April 1890 no money · can properly be asked for or voted for this work,
The Unofficial Members of Council formally protested in a memorandum dated 20th De- cembea, 1890, laid on the Council table on 22nd idem, against being asked to vote monies for works in respect of which no plans, statements or details of any kind had been prepared and submitted and of which they had not approved.
Us
It is deeply to be regretted that with the experie.ce of past years before and with the rapid and rapidly increasing growth of the population in the island of Hongkong, no greater expenditure oʻthan $15,000 is proposed for 1900 in adding to our means of Water Supply in the City (of Viotoria. An abundant supply is indispensable to the health of the Colony; a continuous supply throughout the year and especially, towards the end of the dry season is absolutely essential for the effective operation of our separate system of sewage disposal. The separate system depends wholly on a perennial supply of water at hil hourse of the day and night for its swoosesful working. In wis sanctioned on the assurance that abundance of water would be found and every floor in every Chinese house was provided with water works on that assu anos, eßvery year for months the supply has been intermittentonly.
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In respect of public buildings, the coolie shelter at the Peak comes first in importance although least in amonnt. After that the Post Office and after that, but a long way after, new Law Courts the present Courts although inconvenient being adequate for the transaction of business.
Next in the order of importance come the new roads. Those in the New Territory first. They are required for the preservation of peace, and good government there as well as for the purpose of opening up the Territory for pro- 'Atable use.
The present Estimates should be amended and recast Treasurer's inancial Returns 'and' two statements of assets and liabilities on 31st December 1898 cannot both be correct The estimates for Public Works Extraordinary need reconsideration from beginning to end; the works enumerated in them might well be arranged in the order of their importance and urgency ins- tead of in their present apparently purposeless succession
Then the available money should be sp- propriated to the several works ́ in ・ the order in which they stand on the Estimates,, and if there is not enough to go round, the last on the list should be left over till some other year,
It is useless to plead the insuficiency of the staff of the Public Works Department as a reason for not proceeding with any urgent workor works. Extraordinary works should be provided for by the provision of additional strength for the Department or by special staff. At present with pressing work on hand the staff is being apparently reduced. It is certainly much less strong than it was ten years ago when the population was much less and the area of the Colony twenty-nine square miles instead of four hundred and twenty-nine.
Hongkong, 23rd November.
-T. H. WHITEHRÁD,
"The Moralist" of the Straits Times writes": Many years ago it need to be customary to transport convicts from India to this colony; and, in the Assin Court, (this week, one was reminded of this system. Two Hindoos, who had been transported here about 70-yeszs ago, appeared in court-one in the position of pri- sener and the other as: prosecutor. The former was mapposed to be over 100 years of age, and his appearance certainly did not belie that, for a more decrepit-looking specimen of humanity it would be impossible to find; whilst his former companion was drawing close on his hundredth year. Notwithstanding their great, age, how- ever, the old men had not forgotten the way to settle their slight differences, and, in one of the scules, the “4junice" member of the hense- hold had both;)
broken.