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The Pokfoolum Reservoir, which was full before the typhoon, had the water lifted out of it in sheets and hurled over the embankment. The embankment has not suffered material damage, the ballast o the inner slope was washed away, but has since been replaced. The guage basin and outlet pipe was so choked with ballast and sand, that the water supply to the City had to be cut off for a day to a the outlet works to be cleaned and repaired.
Victoria Peak Buildings. I do not think the Governor will require any information of me in regard to Mountain Lodge, since His Excellency passed the memorable night of the 23rd inside that house while it was being reduced to its present melancholy condition. The Aid-de-camp's bungalow has been so destroyed as to be no longer tenantable, and it will therefore have to be pulled down! The Pavilion or Public Officers' quarters, a wooden frame house, had one of its sides knocked in, and the tiling stripped off the roof. The new Sanitarium recently finished was also partially unroofed and lost several doors and windows. The Signal Station on the summit of Victoria Peak, has likewise been seriously injured, and will have to be rebuilt.
The Light Llouses at Cape D'Aguilar and Green Island have not been seriously damaged. The Keeper's dwellings were partially unroofed.
Of the different Public buildings not Government offices, the Cathedral seems to have fared best, owing to its sheltered position against the irresistible power of the North-East wind. The Presbyterian Church was partially unroofed as also the Roman Catholic Cathedral. St. Joseph's Church in Garden Road was laid in ruins, two of its walls having been knocked down almost to the ground. The pediment of the City Hall was blown over and completely crushed the front portico of that building
Some of the Barracks and other buildings belonging to the Military Authorities in the village Stanley were blown down, and are now like the village itself a heap of ruins.
its normal state.
The City presents altogether a truly distressing sight, and it will be a long time before it recoven But the typhoon has not been without its lessons, for it has shown us how inadequate to cope against the fury of the wind is the style of building which the Colony has adopted. It may perhaps on the other hand, not without truth, be said that the occurrence of the 23rd was unprecedented in the history of Hongkong, and that its effects could not therefore have been provided against or mitigated.
I will shortly have the honour to submit, for the information of His Excellency the Governor estimates of the cost of restoring the Public buildings to their former condition.
No time has however been lost in the work of re-roofing the more important buildings, lest sudden storm of rain should increase the damage already done.
The Honorable J. GARDINER AUSTIN,
Colonial Secretary,
HONGKONG.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
J. M. PRICE, Surveyor General.
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Superintendent of Government Gardens to Surveyor General.
GOVERNMENT GARDENS, HONGKONG, 2nd October, 1874. SIR-I have the honour to forward, in compliance with instructions conveyed in C.S.O. No. 2862, Report on the damage sustained by trees, shrubs, &c., during the late typhoon,
GOVERNMENT GARDENS.
In the gardens, the largest trees, as might have been expected, suffered the most severely. Several of the oldest and largest have been entirely destroyed, e. g., one of the two large "Banians" Ficus retusu, some Casuarinas, a few of the old trees of Pinus sinensio, against the water tank, a fine Longan, a Tetranthera, a good tree of Sophora Japonica, and a few good Poincianas regia, although these, some of the finest specimen individual trees have been destroyed, the kinds are not lost to the gardens, as there are other specimens remaining of all those species. Many other specimens which were equally as fine as the above, although not destroyed, are severely damaged, having nearly the whole of their branches broken off, or the trees themselves laid prostrate on the ground. Many of the trees which have their branches broken off, but which have not had their roots broken or too severely strained, will, during the next year produce other very vigorous branches and luxuriant foliage.
A considerable number of the smaller trees and shrubs are entirely destroyed by having been broken off at the ground; while others have been blown over and a great portion of their roots exposed to air and light to such an extent as to be inimical to their well doing: many of their roots were also much lacerated, which will certainly much injure the health of the plants, although probably only in a few cases sufficiently to cause their deaths. Operations were at once commenced for the preservation of as many of the trees and shrubs as there was any prospect of saving, and the greater portion of them are now replanted and supported.
The effects of this typhoon will be apparent on the general appearance and health of the plants for many years, in many cases the plants will never recover their former vigour during their existence. The continual straining and breakage both to roots and branches which plants are subject to here in the numerous typhoons, will always prevent them being developed into such perfect specimens as are generally seen in gardens that are not visited by such terrific hurricanes.
The flowerpots containing plants in various parts of the gardens were broken in great numbers, but the plants themselves, excepting annuals, which can soon he replaced, although greatly disfigured, will in a little time recover their former appearances.
In the nurseries, the plants in pots have been considerably disturbed in the soil, and consequently slightly injured, but from this they will soon recover.
FOREST DEPARTMENT.
In the streets and roads, a large number of fine and aged trees have been blown down or so much damaged as to necessitate their removal at once, which has been done. The localities in which trees have suffered most severely are in the part of Queen's Road near the Military Store Department, where the trees were very large; in Queen's Road at Spring Gardens, where about half a dozen fine trees were lost; in the Cricket Ground; one fine tree near the entrance to the City Hall; in Caine Road and Bonham Road; in Garden Road; and in the vicinity of the Government Offices. large number of the younger trees have also been much loosened and blown down, which has injured the roots more or less, thus checking their growth for some time.
A very
I have observed that in nearly all cases where trees were blown down in the typhoon of September, 1871, and those trees were again set upright and have continued to grow up to the late typhoon, they have again fallen, and in several cases are this time entirely destroyed, thus proving as a general rule that when once a tree suffers so severely as to cause its prostration, that little reliance can be placed on that tree ever afterwards continuing or becoming a round and healthy one.
Bowrington Compound.--Most of the largest trees here were blown down and a few of them broken off above or at the roots. All that showed any signs of life or prospect of recovery have been again set upright and supported, which will perhaps preserve them for a few years, until pine trees, which I purpose planting, there next year, grow to some size. The greater portion of the compound exhibits signs of having been flooded with salt water, or perhaps a mixture of fresh and salt water, and if this is so, we may expect the trees to be still further injured, or their recovery retarded by the salt which must have been deposited in the soil.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
CHARLES FORD,
Superintendent Government Gardens.
J. M. PRICE, Esq.,
Surveyor General.