Q 84
171 The following mains were removed or abandoned :-
3" C.I. 310 In Saigon Street between Canton Road and Reclamation Street
3" C.I. Total 252 Salisbury Avenue 562 Disconnected & abandoned.
Removed,
(i) Shing Mun Valley Scheme - Catchwater.
172. This work was referred to in paragraph 244 of last year's Departmental Report.
FIRST SECTION.
173. During the maintenance period of this contract heavy rain caused slips which necessitated the construction of 400 feet of retaining wall.
SECOND SECTION.
174. Owing to heavy rains in April the contract time was extended to February 24th 1940. These rains caused extensive slips which necessitated the construction of 1,100 feet of retaining wall. Approximately 6,800 feet of catchwater were completed by the end of the year.
THIRD SECTION.
175. A contract for this section was signed on 24th April with Messrs. Sang Lee & Co. for $237,853.00. Fair progress was made and about 2,000 feet of catchwater were completed by the end of the year.
FOURTH SECTION.
176. The contour survey for this final section was completed and the plans and contract are now being prepared.
(j) Shing Mun Valley Scheme, Rapid Gravity Filters (4th Section).
177. A contract for £4,568-0-0 f.o.b. London was let to Messrs. The Paterson Engineering Co. through the Crown Agents for the supply of the mechanical equipment for this final extension which comprises a five million gallons per day filtration plant. By the end of the year the equipment had arrived in the Colony.
178. A contract amounting to $25,095.90 for the construction of the filters was signed in September with Messrs. Hsin Heng & Co. Mild steel bars were ordered through the Crown Agents but as a result of the war deliveries were much later than anticipated so the work was commenced with steel from local stocks. Delays were also occasioned by the late arrival of the contractors' equipment for the vibration of the concrete. The construction was, however, fairly well advanced by the end of the year.
(k) Tai Lam Chung Scheme, Preliminary Works.
179. This work was referred to in paragraph 245 of last year's Departmental Report.
180. Rotary core and hand percussion drilling were continued and by the end of the year 1,767 feet in soft and 777 feet in rock had been completed on the proposed upper dam site. These borings revealed a very bad fault across the proposed site so it was decided towards the end of the year to investigate the foundation of another dam site lower down the valley. Hand borings totalling ninety feet in soft and rotary borings totalling thirteen feet in rock were completed and the preliminary indication is that good rock should be found at reasonable depths. In August a general layout of the whole scheme was forwarded to the Secretary of State with a request that Consulting Engineers be appointed to report on the proposed scheme.