should be
cited
a moderate scale, at the Public expense; & there
should also be erected
in as close contiguity to it as may be possible, the necessary buildings
for the transaction of the business of the basin's public departments - The general rule is, that no
public building be undertaken without a previous plan & estimate prefaced by the Civil Engineer, with the concurrence of the Surveyor
general, & approved by
the chief Officer of the Royal Engineers stationed at Hong Kong - The observance of this regulation is indispensable-a farther
rule, to be observed except when some evident necessity may
justify a departure from it, is that the commencement of any such buildings should be postponed until after the plan & estimate & proposed expenditure thereon have been reported to & approved by Her Majesty's government,