223
HONG RỘNG
4
REPORTS EXHIBITING THE PAST AND PRESENT
This service, as far as proposed in the report, has been completed. Expenditure 1891. 68. 3d. Levelling the ground after the deposit of the cutting, the formation of the road and the maintenance thereof, being in course of execution by convict labour, and will be commented upon in alluding to the services performed by them.
Treadwheel house and works connected therewith, (Report and estimate No. 5, of 1853,) were commenced in August, and are not yet quite complete; the machinery now in course of erection will be finished in a week from the present date. Expenditure during the year 104l. 3s. 4d.
Two schoolhouses for the Chinese were authorized to be built under Report and estimate No. 23 of 1853; estimate, 2077. 8s. 8d.
Repairs.
These have been of the ordinary kind, and comprised the repair of the harbourmaster's office and residence; the floors, roof, and other portions being much decayed, were renewed, and the whole building painted and whitewashed throughout; expenditure, 487, 6s. 8d.
Sundry services to the residence of the chief justice, the magistracy, government house, government offices, gaol, civil hospital, and burial-ground chapel were effected, at an expenditure of 641. 18. 11d., as given in detail in the return of expenditure. The police stations required a repair, particularly to the verandahs. I stripped the timbers of all plaster, and coated them with coal tar, and trust they will not require further repair for some time. Expenditure 361.
The Court House. This building having a corinthian entablature formed of brick plastered, resting on wood which had become decayed, rendered it necessary to remove the greater portion, and rebuild it with less perishable materials; this I was able to effect by reducing the projection of the cornice, and supporting it with strong tiles in lieu of the wood, which service was executed for the sum of 351.
Post Office. This building originally very insufficiently erected, became so detoriated that a more than ordinary repair was requisite to render it permanent and suitable as an office and residence. The verandahs had to be entirely removed, all the flooring joists at their insertion in the external wall being rotten (caused by the alternate action of the sun and rain). In carrying out this repair I erected transverse arches from the pillars to the walls, and upon these placed the new joists, parallel with the building, thus pro- tecting the ends from the weather, and with full ventilation below I have little doubt that they will be preserved by these means for a much longer period than by the original arrangement. This service, estimated at 2034. Os. 81d., was not completed at the end of the year; expenditure thereon, 62l. 10s.
Roads.
New works--comprised the erection of two flights of steps from the lower bazaar to the Queen's Road, at an expenditure of 14l. In the lower bazaar for the formation of the Strand Road, which is in course of formation by the Crown tenants, it became necessary for Government to assist by the erection of seawalls thereto, opposite each of the streets This abutting thereon, and filling in the arca proposed to be reclaimed from the sea. service, authorized under Report and estimate No. 3 of 1843, was commenced in April, but in consequence of the dilatory manner in which some of the tenants proceeded with their share of the work, I was unable to proceed with the government portion. The expenditure during the year on this account only amounted to 31. 5s. The greater portion has however since been completed. Estimate, 1927. 148. 2d. Surface drains, estimated at 58l. 178. 6d., were also sanctioned for the lower bazaar, and upon this service an expenditure of 311. 5s. was made. In connexion with the filling, &c. for the reclamation of land from the sea to form the Strand Road, "covered drains" were required; these were authorized under Report and estimate No. 2 of 1853, amounting to 517. 98. 71⁄2 d., but for this service, delayed from the same cause as that referred to above, I made no payments on account up to the termination of the year.
The road extending from Aberdeen Street to the Queen's Road at the naval stores, I was directed to widen and improve, to render it available for carriages; it was sauctioned under Report and estimate No. 21 of 1853,-estimate, 3197. 6s. 10d.,-and commenced in the month of September. One half of the road is finished, and an expenditure on account made, amounting to 1021. 103. The road will be finished and open to the public in the beginning of May, previous to which period it is unadvisable to do so, as it requires much rain to consolidate the material, and prove the drains and retaining walls
secure.
Repairs to roads were made from Aberdeen Street to Aberdeen Road, amounting to 97. on one mile and 383 yards; from the Albany Godowns to Quarry Bay, amounting 11. 48. 2d.; and a further repair and improvement of the same road estimated at 581. 4s. 2d. was authorized, but not completed at the end of the year; the Wong-nei- chung Valley Road amounting to 12., and on the the Queen's Road West amounting to 12l., forming a total distance of 1 miles. The remainder of the roads and streets in the island were kept in repair by convict labour.
시
STATE OF HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.
Bridges.
Sundry services were effected to bridges on the road round the island, amounting to 61. 78. 6d, and the bridge at Soo-kun-poo, injured during a heavy flood, was repaired for the sum of 101.
A sewer 100 feet in length for the use of some new houses in Aberdeen Street, was executed for the sum of 20%. 16s. 8d.
The expenditure for the repair and supply of convict tools during the year amounted to 157. 38. 3d., a small sum in comparison with former years. This is to be attributed to the employment of convicts for these services; some Chinese carpenters and a European blacksmith having been condemned to hard labour, were occupied in the above work. The total expenditure during the year, as executed under my supervision, has amouated to the sum of 5,8701, 7s. 0 d.
Convict Labour.
The labour of the convicts has comprised the ordinary general services we
can derive from it, viz., in breaking stones for the roads, picking oakum, mat making, &c., within the gaol walls, and labour on public works outside the walls. Within the walls some effective work has been performed by the carpenters in the repair of tools, as well as in the ordinary repairs of the gaol; timber and other materials being supplied from con- demned buildings. I was thus enabled to turn their labour to account, particularly in the formation of a new set of beds or stretchers for the chain gang, the renewal of several windows, reflooring one room, a passage and covered way—and a variety of useful repairs, which must otherwise have been paid for. By the regulations lately made for the gaol, the gaoler is required to keep an exact account of these and other miscellaneous works performed by the convicts, so that a more direct comparison may be made of the value of the work as a set off against the expenditure for their maintenance.
The stone broken for the roads amounts to 400 tons, which I estimate at per ton, 3s. 6d., equals 70%. The greater quantity of this I propose to use in metalling the new road to Government House, which being formed entirely in filling will require to have its surface rendered as hard and as unyielding as possible to preserve it from the action of the heavy rains. The value of work performed by the carpenters and blacksmiths, the latter for a short period only, exclusive of materials, I estimate at 381.
Without the gaol walls an average number of ten men are employed daily as water carriers, scavengers, &c., and in a variety of other purposes for the general duties of the gaol. Upon public works they have been employed as follows, viz., in scavenging under police direction in various parts of the city, 208 men, valued at 41. 68. 8d.; in the im- provement of streets and roads, 6,914 men, valued at 144. Os. 10d.; in repairs to roads and streets, 4,142 men, valued at 861. 5s. 10d.; in cleansing drains, &c., 237 men, valued at 4l. 188. 9d.; in the formation of the road to new Government House, 5,609 men, valued at 1167. 178. 1d.; and in miscellaneous services, such as planting trees, weeding, cutting grass, &c., 1,495 men, valued at 31. 2s. 11d., thus forming a total of 18,605 men employed on public works (being 1,094 men less than last year), expressing the value of work performed at 3871. 128. 1d.
The three coolies attached to the department have been usefully employed during the year at work of the ordinary miscellaneous character-viz., 154 days in the supervision of labour, 391 days repairing roads, streets, and bridges, 182 days in transplanting or in the care of trees, 126 days clearing drains, 17 days at the Government House site, 45 days at the delivery of stones from Albany Godowns, 17 days miscellaneous; total 932 days.
£' 8. d.
The total expenditure by the department on account of
public works during the year amounted to Value of convict labour outside the gaol to ditto Ditto
ditto
ditto
inside
Services performed by department coolies, at 31. 2s. 6d.
per month
Actual value of all services during the year
Hon. Lieut.-Colonel W. Caine,
&c.
&c.
&c.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
A 3
5,870 7 01
387 12
]
108 0 0
37 10
0
£6,403 9 1 1/
CHARLES ST. GEORGE CLEVERLY,
Surveyor General.
HONG KONG.