:
ד:
Condo sure 4.
76
The chief causes of the work extending over so long a period
were:-
(a.) The difficulty of obtaining a sufficient supply of
suitable granite.
(b) The difficulty of obtaining a sufficient number of
inasons,
(c.) The death of the Contractor, which occurred in November, 1904, whilst the work was in its early stages, the contract being then taken over by Mr. Chan A Tong's son.
With regard to (a), owing to the importance and prominence of the building, great attention was paid to the quality and colour of the stone used, much of the granite in general use in Hongkong being subject to discolouration, after being dressed and fixed, owing to the presence of minute particles of iron in it. It was found that the sources from which a supply of reliable stone of suit- able colour could be obtained were very limited and, as the lessee of one considerable quarry in the New Territories, which was selected as affording suitable stone, displayed great indifference in the con- duct of his quarrying operations, the Contractor experienced great. difficulty in obtaining the necessary stone. Many of the stones were of exceptional size, weighing up to fully 5 tons each, and, as those in the various courses in many cases varied in size, it was not possible, when a stone met with an injury in dressing or setting, to replace it with one from the next course and proceed with the work. Progress in such cases had to be suspended until a new stone could be quarried and dressed.
With regard to (b), in addition to considerable activity in general building operations, including the erection of several of the large blocks of buildings on the Praya Reclamation, both the Naval Yard Extension and the Taikoo Shipyard Works, which absorbed a great many masons, wore in active progress from 1903 to 1907. The class of labour particularly required for the construction of the Law Courts was flins in exceptional demand and it is unnecessary to