The Government is fully aware of the importance of the subjects which have been mentioned, and so important work is not lost sight of. In due course of time they will all be taken in hand. Some allusion has been made to sanitation. I don't think it is necessary to say very much about that because in discussion the Estimates which we had before us only a short time ago $100,000 was set apart for sanitary works next year, and my hon. friend by his silence on that point accepted the principle that that sum was sufficient and that only the works covered by that sum would be carried out next year. I don't think, as he made no protest then, he has any right now to come and say no allusion has been made to sanitary matters. From the statement of my hon. friend the Surveyor-General he will perceive sanitary matters are one of those subjects receiving the closest attention of the Government.
With respect to the Central Market, $100,000 was set apart for the acquisition of property this year... and I may say it has been very difficult to get the property and $50,000 for next year. Therefore it cannot be said the Governor is showing any remissness in that matter. With respect to the Gap Rock light my hon. friend regretted the papers had not been sent in. I believe it has not been possible yet to make any estimate of what it will cost. It is true a few weeks have elapsed since we visited the place, but it is difficult and must take time to make any reliable estimate of what such a work will cost. There have to be considered the difficulties of the approach, the distance, and whether we could get any reliable contractor who would undertake this job. I don't think any avoidable delay has taken place in placing all the necessary documents in the hands of the Administrator.
Hon. A. P. MACEWEN asked if he might be allowed to correct a misstatement. He said the Acting Attorney-General seemed to be under the impression that no estimate for the Gap Rock light had been prepared, whereas Sir Robert Hart had had one prepared.
The ACTING ATTORNEY-GENERAL-My hon. friend also said that from information he had received he was under the impression the delay connected with the Praya extension had been partly caused by the Government having cooled down. As far as I have seen from the documents to which I have had access there has been no cooling down. The Government have pressed the matter forward as much as possible, but there have been differences of opinion between the Military Authorities and the Naval Authorities, and the Naval Authorities are very averse to being cut off from the sea, and will only consent to that on the basis of receiving some compensation from the Military Authorities in the way of additional space, which the Military Authorities do not see their way at present to grant them.
My hon. friend has said no allusion has been made in the Address to the question of the fortifications. That is true. It is accounted for by the fact that in his closing speech to the Council in October His Excellency referred to that subject and said satisfactory progress was being made with the fortifications, and in his minute dated the 17th September last His Excellency said...
The amount provided for Extraordinary Public Works is $760,000. For this year provision was originally made for $579,800, but it is probable that about $756,000 will be expended, the construction of Military Defences having been carried out with greater expedition than was originally contemplated. Only $52,000 was provided for this purpose during the present year whereas it is probable that $218,000 will be expended.
That was only in September last, and there has really been nothing to report since that date. His Excellency has received to-day a letter from Major-General Cameron on the subject. His Excellency says:
"Tell the Legislative Council we are making steady and very satisfactory progress with the fortifications as far as we are permitted to go under orders from home, and with due regard to the work being well done. The Home authorities in the present rather unsettled state of many artillery questions had not quite made up their minds as to the particular description of gun-carriage, and this has caused considerable delay—the emplacements and platforms being dependent on the gun-carriages to be adopted.
But it is far better to proceed with caution in such matters than to be in too great a hurry and commit mistakes not easily rectified.
The enclosed printed statement, received by last mail, giving the armament of each Battery, may be shown confidentially to any Honourable member of the Council wishing to see it—but, for manifest reasons, must not be made public. Please return it done with. When we get drawings, giving all particulars of carriages, platforms, emplacements, &c., &c., and are ordered to proceed, there will, I hope, be no more interruptions. Other stations both at home and abroad are exactly in the same position, and Hongkong has no special grievance.
The colony may rest assured that its interests are being well looked after by me, and that I am quite as much interested as anyone here, not only in pushing on the works to the best of my ability, but in seeing that the public gets its full money's worth.
The R. E. Department is exercising the closest supervision over the Contractors and their men, and I believe the work is well up to the mark.
Those people who are in such desperate hurry should remember that we only draw on the Colonial contribution as far as the money is actually due to pay Contractors in arrear, and that therefore none of the money is lying idle.
With regard to the time when the guns may be expected our last advices (26th July) say 'Breech loading armaments will be supplied as soon as arrangements can be made. Orders have been given for the dispatch of rifled muzzle loading ornaments.'
The General has also furnished His Excellency with a statement of the actual progress of the works, a very detailed one, and I will just give you some of the details. (The hon. gentleman read a report giving the state of the various batteries.) I can assure the Council the General is pushing on this work as fast as ever he can. Nothing more can be done at present until they get advices of what sort of gun carriage is to be adopted. I believe experiments are being made at home as to the best gun carriage, and nothing more can be done here until it is known what kind of gun carriage is to be adopted and the space that will be required for them.
With regard to the muzzle loading guns, that is also a matter to which I wish to refer, because we have often heard the Government is not keeping its contract. In a minute dated the 17th February, 1886, His Excellency says:
"The result of those recommendations has been that the scheme of defence has been very carefully reconsidered. Instead of three new works and re-mounting guns in existing works, the new scheme of defence includes four new works and three new guns for single heavy guns, and whilst omitting the works originally proposed at Quarry Bay it substitutes a work on the Lyeemun Channel. The complete defence weight and power of the guns and costly foundations have been so greatly increased that much more massive foundations and emplacements have to be provided for them. An idea of the difference in the guns now proposed from those originally contemplated may be gathered from the revised estimate of cost of the armaments, which, instead of being £37,500 will now amount to £118,500.
When this minute was presented to the Council and referred to the Finance Committee a full description of the works and guns was also laid before them. The letter from the War Office dated 19th September, 1885, shows that in the original scheme the cost for the works was £15,000, and in the revised scheme £116,000. When the Finance Committee was asked to vote this additional sum a full description of the guns, the size, system, weight of shot, piercing power, etc., was communicated, and it was after seeing and considering this that the vote was unanimously agreed to, and no departure from the armament promised in that paper has been made except in one or two instances where the size of the guns has been increased. Therefore if the hon. member sees some muzzle loading guns arriving it is because these muzzle loading guns are for positions which according to those best capable of judging are best capable of being defended by these guns.
My hon. friend said he was disappointed with the Address, because it indicated a mind which refused responsibility and it shadowed forth very little work. Now, I am sure no member of the Council who knows His Excellency will agree with that. His Excellency cannot pledge the future Governor, but he is willing to take all the responsibility he can upon himself. I think his address is a business-like statement of what he really means to do, and I am sure the members of the Council will agree with me everything his Excellency promises he will do his utmost to fulfil. I am sure His Excellency is the last person who would shrink from taking responsibility on himself when the exercise of that responsibility would be conducive to the welfare of the Colony.
The COLONIAL TREASURER-At this hour of the evening I do not propose to say more than a word or two. My hon. friend (Mr. MacEwen) has determined to celebrate the 5th of November by going for the Government, and he has certainly done so. I propose to confine myself to one portion of his remarks, and that is the mine he sprang upon us about the Central Market. It would have made his speech more complete if he had told us, what he knew to be the fact, that I stand here as an officer of this Government who certainly for nineteen years has known all the facts the hon. gentleman has told us of, including the fish stall and the hole 8 feet long, and in the little I have been able to do in connection with that Market I have never lost any opportunity of trying to better the existing state of things.
But this I will say: any person who will go down to-morrow...
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