OP Y.
Hon. C.S.,
C.O.
27207
Pers
R 27 JUL 08.
I submit the following observations in
support of my proposal that a second Assistant Director of
Public Works should be appointed.
I would preface them by stating that it
578
is true that the Colony is of small size but it includes a City
of about 200,000 inhabitants whilst the Kowloon Peninsula (area
about 34 square miles) contains over 80,000 inhabitants at the
present time and is rapidly developing into a large town. The
census for 1906 gives a total population of 413,500 for the
entire Colony.
There is no municipality whatever and all
duties of a municipal nature devolve upon the Public Works
Department. Not only do the works coming within the scope of
the Department embrace those usually met with in any district,
namely, public buildings, roads and bridges, water, sewerage and
drainage works, but they also include sea-walls, piers, harbour
works, lighthouses and a considerablesystem of telephones and
telegraphs. The last-mentioned item includes sex-cables of 34
and 34 miles in length respectively to Gap Rock and Waglan
Lighthouses. In addition to all this, the control of all build-
-ing operations throughout the Colony is vested in the Director
of Public Works as Building Authority, under an elaborate Public
Health