38
HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
Time and again during the last three years have the unofficial members of this Council pressed on the Government the imperative need of pushing on with the work; and it is inexplicable why in face of these strong representations and of the equally strong opinion expressed by His Excellency the Governor, as quoted by the Honourable Senior Unofficial Member, the Secretary of State should have held up this most essential and urgent undertaking.
I should like to repeat here, what the Hon. Sir Shou-son Chow and I have said on previous occasions, that the people will not grudge any expenditure in the form of interest and sinking fund in respect of loans raised for providing waterworks which would obviate, at least for some years, the necessity for restrictions on the water supply, with all their attending hardships and inconvenience.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY.-The Government can readily accept the motion of the Senior Unofficial Member, and, in fact, has already anticipated it by despatching a telegram to the Secretary of State on 11th May setting out the present water shortage and the consequent restrictions as still further reason for pressing on at once with the Gorge Valley Reservoir at Shing- Mun.
A short history of the more recent negotiations in connexion with the Shing-Mun Scheme will, I hope, serve to satisfy Honourable Members that there has been no undue delay in pressing on with it.
A dam of this height, storing water to a depth of 200 feet, falls into the category of the World's large engineering problems, and every step taken demands the most extreme circumspection. The services of an English firm, Messrs. Sir Alexander Binnie, Son and Deacon, with a very wide specialized experience in this kind of work, were, therefore, enlisted--and on 9th January, 1931, Mr. Gourleay, a partner in the firm, came out to inspect the site selected and its possibilities. The data were not then sufficient for him to return a final opinion, and more exploration work was called for.
On October 8th, 1931, Mr. Binnie of the same firm came to inspect the foundations, which had, in the meantime, been opened up, and finally reported that the scheme as proposed was a sound
one.
The not unimportant question of finance remained, and the Secretary of State required figures which would justify Hong Kong in incurring the necessary loan-and it must not be forgotten that this work was not the only one on the loan list, though it is much the largest and the most important contemplated. The
127
Page 120Page 121