280
THE PRAYA RECLAMATION.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS 'AND
about 14 years have been occupied in its execu- | tion. In an outlying part of the Harbour such a reclamation could have been carried out in less than half the time, as it would have been possi- ble to proceed with the entire work simultan. eously, but such an arrangement in the case of the Praya Reclamation, which extends though out the entire frontage of the principal business part of the city, would have caused intolerable inconvenience, and consequently it had to be carried out by degrees. There were also other circumstances which seriously affected the pro-
As the Praya Reclamation Works have now practically reached completion the Director of Public Works in his annual report gives the following account of their origin and progress :--- The Praya Reclamation Works were initiated by Sir C. P. Chater, and have been carried out under the Praya Reclamation Ordinance. No. 16 of 1889. Prior to the passing of this Ordinance, reclamations of limited extent at West Point in front of the Sailors' Home and the Wharf and Godown Company's propertygress of the work. (Marine Lots 95 and 105) were sanctioned. but. as these fell within the limits of the main
scheme, they were subsequently carried out in conjunction with it. A considerable quantity
of rubble stone for the foundations of the sea- wall for these reclamations had been deposited before the main scheme was undertaken and, as the new reclamation projected somewhat further into the harbour, it was necessary to widen the mound so formed in order to bring the wall into alignment.
The reclamation extends from the boundary of the Naval Yard Extension westwards to a point opposite Marine Lot 181, a distance of nearly 2 miles, the total area reclaimed from the sea being approximately 65 acres, made up as follows:-
Praya Reclamation ander Ordin-
ance No. 16 of 1889
West Point Reclamations
Total...
59 acres.
6
65
Of this area 33.73 acres constitute building land, the remainder being occupied by roads and open spaces. An area of 2.21 acres of land out- side the boundaries of the actual reclamation | and formerly occupied by streets was rendered available for inclusion with building lots.
The total length of new Praya Wall 10.263- feet, made up as follows:- Praya Reclamation under Ordin-
ance No. 16 of 1889 ... West Point Reclamations
Total
9,198 ft.
1.065
10,263
In connection with the Praya Reclamation Works the re-construction of Government Piers has also been carried on. So far as this work has progressed, it includes permanent structures for the Nam Pak Hong Pier, Boat-slips opposite the old and new Harbour Offices, Pottinger Street Pier, Blake Pier, Murray Pier, and temporary piers at Ice House Street and Wardley Street. The permanent structures are all of masonry and concrete with the exception of Blake Pier, which is constructed almost entirely of iron.
The total expenditure, up to the 31st Decem- ber, 1903, on the whole of the above-mentioned works, amounted to $3.362.325.37, made up as
follows:-
Praya Reclamation under Or. dinance No. 16 of 1889... West Point Reclamations... Re-construction of Government
Piers
Total
$2.895,831.35
The original design of the new Praya Wall was prepared when Mr. J. M. Price was at the head of the Public Works Department. Just before the commencement of the Reclamation Works he was succeeded by Mr. S. Brown, who made some fundamental alterations in Mr Price's design necessitating the employment of special plant, some of which had to be obtained from England. Although the rubble foundations for the Praya Wall were being proceeded with while the special plant was being obtained, a season's low tides were lost. and it may be said that the works suffered a year's delay. at the outset, through the change in design,
The principal feature of the new design for the wall was the substitution of blocks for granite footings, with the view of using the blocks, in the first instance, as temporary weights for loading and consolidating the rubble foundations. This was a slow and expensive process; but it was justified by results. The temporary load caused more or less settlement of the foundations throughout their whole extent, and they generally reached a permanent bearing before the superstructure was commenced. In some instances, however, the settlement became so slow, during the later stage of the application of the load, that the blocks were removed before settlement was quite complete, and in building the superstructure an allowance for further settlement was made. In other instances the foundations suddenly collapsed, under the temporary load and, when this happened. the blocks had to be picked up with the aid of divers, the rubble foundations made good; and the temporary load replaced. Had the tem- porary loading of the foundations been dispensed with. it appears likely that several lengths of wall, probably after being finished to coping level, and backed up with earth, would have collapsed, and had to be rebuilt at great trouble and expense.
Another cause of delay was the period of severe depression and scarcity of money which was experienced in 1892, when doubts arose as to whether the Marine Lot-owners could fulfil their obligations in providing the funds necessary for the completion of the authorised works. The letting of new contracts was postponed until it was decided that the scheme was to be gone on with and carried to comple- tion, and, before this decision was arrived at. a
Owing, however, to delays on the part of the contractor for Section No. 6w, Mr. Tsang Kong, work on section No. 1w was completed practically simultaneously with it.
season's low tides were lost, causing practically 221,378.28 a year's delay.
According to the original programme. the 245,115.74 Reclamation was to be commenced simultaneous
ly at both ends, and the works were to be carried 83.362,325.37 on until they met in the middle; but owing to The estimated cost of the Praya Reclamation the refusal of the Lot-owners on Section No. alone was $2,942,916.65; consequently, when all 1w to come into the scheme, that portion of the outstanding accounts are paid, a small balance Reclamation was not taken in hand until 1898. will probably remain to the credit of the scheme. In carrying it out, the rubble foundations of notwithstanding the great increase in the cost the sea wall subsided repeatedly, and caused of work during recent years, due principally to
more trouble and delay than any other equal the drop in exchange from 3/-, at which rate the length of foundations. original estimate was made. The Ordinance provides, however, that the cost per square foot of any particular allotment is not to be fixed at the average cost of the whole Reclamation but at the average cost of the particular Section on which such allotment is situated. It is therefore more than probable that there will be a debit balance on some of the Sections, but it is certain that any such balance will only amount to a small percentage on the original estimated cost. The actual cost in any particular case cannot be exactly stated until revision of the accounts, now in progress, has been completed, and the necessary adjustments have been made between the various sections or between them and the Re-construction of Government Piers.
The actual construction of the Reclamation was commenced in February, 1900; so tha
[April 9,11904.
portions of the surfaces of the adjoining streets. Thus the total area dealt with was 80 acres, and the total weight of material used in the works may be put at something like 3,500,000 tons.
When it is mentioned that the cost of the entire work per square foot of building land has amounted to about $2 to 83, and that por- tions of the land in the western and central districts have realised $8.78 and $20.00 per square foot, respectively, there can be no ques- tion as to the success of the scheme from a financial point of view. The scheme has also been of great benefit in providing new and wide thoroughfares throughout the principal portion of the City and in affording accommodation for the great development which has occurred in the trade and population of the Colony. In addition to the sum expended upon the Reclamation itself. a large sum, probably about $4,000,000, has been spent in the erection of buildings on it.
TRADE OF THE PHILIPPINES.
The Manila Chamber of Commerce has just issued its formal report for the year just past 1903, and the document contains a great deal of very interesting statistical matter. In the in- troduction to the figures given in the report is a general summary of the commercial events of importance during the year, and special'atten- tion is called to the extraordinary meetings of the Chamber and its committees for various púr. poses, chief among which were certain revisions of the tariff and customs schedules, the protest against the famous Shuster-Niederlein fiasco by which the Government forwarded to Wash- ington figures and samples taken bodily from the customs offices, and matters of a similar nature. The alien contract labour law comes in for a place among the records of the Chamber. as do also Brewster Cameron and the proposed grading of the tariff by the local government.
In proof of the statements made at various times that the sugar trade of the islands was changed by the present tariff schedules from a flourishing industry of great importance to a feeble and weakling business of barely sufficient life to sustain itself, the figures cited in
the report a re illuminating. The table showing the sugar exports gives the following. in piculs: 1903, which was the best year since 1891, 4.186.982; 1896, the year of the beginning of the insurrection against Spain. 3.671,024; 1897, 3,232,010; 1898, the year of the American invasion and permanent occupation, 2.859:661, 1899, 1,499.854; 1900. 996,827: 1901, 886.368; 1902, 1,473,160; 1903. 1.432,953. In the past year Manila has shipped out only 5.204 piculs, as against infinitely lar- ger amounts in former years. Of the three great sugar-ports of other days. Manila. Iloilo, and Cebu. Iloilo has been, since 1898, far ahead of the others, but even its figures are not On the contrary, the what they used to be. sugar trade has almost gone to pieces, and little hope is expressed by the merchants for its rejuvenation and upbuilding. so long as the present system of running affairs obtains. During the past year only two divisions of the sugar were made, one lot of 540.880 piouls going to America and Canada, and the other, of 892,073, to Chira and Japan ports, where in former years Great Britain, the European continent, and California were heavy importers
of the sweet stuff.
The situation in copra is more hopeful, for a gain has been shown, and the 1,261,985 piculs exported last year were about 550,000 piculs greater than during the previous year. The copra, however, has fluctuated before, and the statistics show that in one year only has Iloilo contributed toward swelling the total of the exports of that valuable commodity, with the result that the report is not so thoroughly representative as might be wished. The figures for the years preceding 1902 show both gains and losses, the figures for different years differing widely in most cases.
Much of the work performed on the Recla- mation is invisible, the foundations of the Praya Wall extending down through water and mud to the hard ground. This means that the depth of the wall and rubble mound, from the top of the coping to the bottom of the foundations, varies from 27 to 80 feet. In
This same statement applies with equal force addition to being extended out to the new Praya Wall, the Storm-Water Drains had to be to the leaf-tobacco export figures, the amounts reconstructed from the old Prays Wall back-being given in quintals, and showing that the wards, for distances varying from 100 to 1,450 feet. The aggregate of the areas of the Reclamations outside the old Praya Wall has already been given as 65 acres, but the whole surface of the old Praya had to be raised, and
tobacco goes to the United States now in some quantity as well as to foreign countries and China. In 1898, when the American influence was first felt, the exports for the year fell far below those of the previous twelve months, being