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The expenditure on these special items was as follows:-
Providing, laying and securing new shore end to cable,...$6,220.60*
New glass panels to lantern, $2,814.86
Muntz metal shutters to quarters, $1,647.00
$10,682.46
Expenditure on Lighthouses-1903 to 1907.
Year. Gap Rock Lighthouse. Waglan Lighthouse.
1903 $1,844.00 $2,050.00
1904 **2,814.20 $989.47
1905 †7,689.38 $1,348.00
1906 $4,533.74 $1,264.00
1907 $4,180.00
Green Island Lighthouse. Cape Collinson Lighthouse.
$362.00 $305.00
$321.84 $243.35
$461.00 $283.00
$47.00 $37.00
$597.00 $1,782.00
* Charged under "Telegraphs".
** Including $173.34 for Repairs to Cables charged to "Maintenance of Telegraphs".
† $5,869.38 in 1905, on Supplementary Vote “Repairs to Gap Rock Cable”.
‡ $1,969.74 in 1906, on Supplementary Vote "Repairs to Gap Rock Cable”.
41. Maintenance of Roads and Bridges in City. The road surfaces were maintained in a satisfactory condition. The portion of Queen's Road Central opposite the City Hall was laid with tar macadam which has been found in England and elsewhere to afford a comparatively noiseless and dustless surfacing material. Though a portion of the work was executed under unfavourable weather conditions the surfacing has worn well so far. The footway on the South side of Queen's Road opposite Arsenal Street was lowered to correspond with the road surface, the lowering of which was carried out some 3 or 4 years earlier, and was also surfaced with cement concrete. The footpath on the North side of Queen's Road East between Garden Road and Arsenal Street was picked up and re-laid with cement concrete 4" thick; whilst those on the West and North sides of the Cricket ground and adjoining the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Gardens were surfaced with fine cement concrete 2" thick.
Improvements to the footways in First and Second Streets were carried out, the old surfaces being picked up, re-graded and laid with cement concrete.
Railings of a total length of 1,392 lineal feet were erected on Bowen and Kennedy Roads at places where some protection appeared advisable, the cost being $1,063.
42. Maintenance of Roads and Bridges outside City.-The road surfaces generally were maintained in a satisfactory condition.
The footways around Tai Hang Village were re-graded and surfaced with lime and cement concrete.
Improvements were also effected in the surface channels in the Village of Aplichau to enable the surface and sullage water to be carried directly into the sea.
43. Maintenance of Roads and Bridges in Kowloon.-Owing to the progress of the railway works on the East side of the Peninsula and the raising of the roads in that district the ordinary work of maintenance was for a time suspended. Otherwise the roads were maintained in good condition.
The kerbing and channelling of the West side of Nathan Road (formerly called Robinson Road) was completed during the year and the macadamizing of a portion of the surface was extended to and carried along Austin Road, Austin Avenue and Kimberley Road,
The names of various roads and streets have been altered by the Governor-in-Council in order to avoid the confusion caused by having two roads in the Colony (one on the Island and one in Kowloon) with identical names. For the most part names of Chinese towns have been chosen for the new names in order that they may readily lend themselves to transliteration into Chinese characters (a source of much difficulty with many of the existing names) and that persons who do not speak Chinese may have less difficulty in remembering them.