184
Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
STATE OF HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.
Enclosure 2.
REPORT by the Surveyor-General on the Public Works undertaken and executed during the Year 1852,
Surveyor-General's Office, SIR,
Victoria, February 12, 1853. I HAVE the honour to submit my annual report upon the construction and repair of the civil roads and works upon the island.
Building
A contract for the construction of the new Government house was made in March last for the sum of £7,479. 3s. 4d., exclusive of timber and fittings to be supplied by Government. The work has proceeded very satisfactorily, and at the termination of the year the whole of the basement had been completed. This portion of the building is entirely arched over in brickwork, and thus rendered secure from fire, besides preventing the ascent of noise or effluvia from the cellars, as well as from the apartments to be occupied by the servants. A thorough system of ventilation has also been adopted; the fresh air being admitted only from the verandahs and also discharged therein, so that it is received quite pure and uncontaminated. The most beneficial arrangement as regards stability, I conceive to be in the plan I have adopted for the formation of the floors of the verandahs. These are supported upon arches similar to the rest of the basement, the spandrels being formed hollow, to lighten the weight thereon, and prevent any unnecessary thrust. The surface will be levelled with a concrete formed with broken bricks three inches thick, and that again covered with a course of 4-inch marble set in cement.
I have adopted such precautions for the prevention of damage to the timber by white ants, dry rot, or otherwise, as I could avail myself of here: that is, in addition to the extensive system of ventilation alluded to, I have thoroughly coated it with coal tar wherever it is inserted in the walls; and, previously to the laying down the floors, I intend to wash the whole with a solution of arsenic, as well as adding another coat of tar where practicable. With these precautions, I hope much of the damage so common to almost all the buildings in the colony will be prevented.
Following out the intention of discarding every unnecessary piece of timber in the building, I am now forming the window and door lintels with a flat camber arch, assisting it also to support the superincumbent weight with a relieving arch of the ordinary description. The space between the intrados of the camber arch and the soffit of the moulded framings will be left open, that air may enter behind the architrave, and serve to ventilate them as well as the rooms.
In connexion with the skylights of the vestibule and staircase, ventilation will also be provided, and means adopted for the regulation and discharge of vitiated air throughout the whole building, which I hope will be attended with beneficial effects.
I am in hopes that the buildings will be completed in a year from the present time. The stables, kitchens, guardhouse, &c. I will propose to commence immediately, so that all may be brought to a completion at nearly the same period.
At the gaol, under the authority of report and estimate No. 5 of 1851, it is proposed to erect the following buildings, to replace others which were in a very dilapidated state; viz., a new debtors' gaol, a gaoler's house, inner guardhouse, and a military guardhouse. These have been contracted for under very favourable terms, by which a saving on the estimate will be effected. Three of the buildings have been commenced, and are proceeding satisfactorily, but the debtors' gaol I have been obliged to postpone, having no accommodation for those persons formerly occupying the buildings pulled down.
In the repairs of buildings, an expenditure of £100. 16s. 9d. has been made, of a miscellaneous and ordinary character, in addition to which the sum of £254. 4s. 2d. was paid for hired coolies, as watchmen over public property.
The total sum advanced on account of buildings during the year, both in construction and repair, amounts to £4,193. 4s. 5d.
An expenditure of £174. 1s. 0d. was incurred as a special service in providing mat sheds for the accommodation of the houseless Chinese tenants burnt out during the great fire.
Roads and Bridges.
The road from North Point to Quarry Bay, a distance of five furlongs, was widened and improved for the sum of £123. 19s. 2d. Stone arches were in every place adopted in lieu of the wooden platform bridges, and a rough stone parapet placed on the seaside for the whole distance. Very soon after the completion of this service, a heavy storm, accompanied with rain, caused so much damage to the abutments of one of the bridges by the failure of one of the adjoining embankments and underwash of the sea, that it was found necessary to rebuild it, and, in doing so, I adopted some further precautions for the prevention of damage to the bridge (which is in a very exposed position), and which I