السد العالي الجابر
of the Colonial Government to the foreshore in front of the Commissariat must, therefore, be borne in mind in any discussion that may arise in respect of proprie- tary rights, though I apprehend Your Lordship will waive those claims, and give the War Department the reclamation in question valued at $114,882, provided that Department should accede to the terms above proposed, viz.: payment of the whole cost of its share of the reclamation.
17. To prevent misconception hereafter it should be mentioned, that the precise cost of the works cannot be specified until after all details of design shall have been settled locally with the Royal Engineer Department, and until a tender for the execution of the work shall have been accepted: but the preliminary estimates now put forward are reported by the Surveyor General as being sufficiently approximate to form the basis of any negociations with the Imperial Departments. Briefly recapitulated the cost of these works will amount to $691,000 of which I propose the Admiralty should pay at least $156,792, that the War Department should pay $320,000, if it desires to retain the lands reclaimed, that Mr. SHARP should pay $21,000, and that the Colonial Government should defray the balance, i.e. $193,208.
18. I have not deemed it necessary to touch in this Despatch on the many minor provisions that have been stipulated for in local correspondence, both by the Naval and Military Authorities with regard to buildings, piers, fences, walls, roadways, gates, &c. in connexion with the scheme. Suffice it to say that I have met all these requirements, and that no pains will be spared to make the plan acceptable in all its details both to the Naval and Military Authorities. A strenuous effort however, will yet have to be made to obtain from the Naval Authorities some reduction of the great height of "headway" which they demand under the bridge over the entrance to the Naval Yard basin, as this height if adhered to will involve unduly steep gradients in the new Praya roadway.
19. In conclusion I would remind Your Lordship that the Colonial Govern- ment has been now ten years endeavouring to effect the realization of this most important undertaking, that in these ten years of fruitless effort and disappointment, and of almost interminable correspondence with the Imperial Departments, the population of the western town has had time almost to double itself, and to become congested to a dangerous degree, and that in consequence of a situation so full of grave anxiety, it is of vital importance that the War Office as well as the Admiralty should be moved to an early decision. For even if, through Your Lordship's efforts in that bebalf, a satisfactory result should be arrived at, and I should then be enabled to cause this much needed work to be commenced during 1889, we can scarcely expect to have the embankment finished before 1893; and only then will it be practicable to establish the tramway communication with the eastern suburbs, so urgently required to lead the population in that direction, and to thus afford a remedy for the evils of overcrowding which at present threaten the health of the Civil community, the Garrison, and the Naval Establishment alike.
I have the honour to be,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's most obedient,
humble Servant,
* The actual terms in this case to depend to a certain extent on Your Lordship's decision as to what is to be required from Marine Tot-holder under Mr. CHATER's scheme which is the subject of my despatch No. 234 of the 7th of August, 1888, and I am of opinion that a considerable premium should be paid in addition in respoet of this reclamation.
No. 11.
MY LORD,
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
17
HONGKONG,
114484 ¡RECT
4889.
REG: 20 JUL 89
Referring to previous correspondence on the subject. I have the honour to transmit Your Lordship the enclosed Report of the Surveyor General on a proposal for the Junction of the East and West Prayas by the construction of a seu-wall and roadway of the same character in front of the Royal Naval Yard and Military Cantonments, together with a general plan and estimate of the cost of the work.
2. The design in its present shape differs naterially from the plans previously submitted, the serious shoaling of the foreshore during recent years having rendered it necessary to move out the line of embankment into deeper water. But this alteration, though it will increase the cost of the work, will afford more than full compensation by the much larger area which will be made available for reclama- tion, and as the new design is still more favourable to Naval and Military interests than any previous one, there has been no difficulty in securing for it the approval of Vice-Admiral Sir N. SALMON and Lieut.-General CAMERON, both of whom have, I understand, communicated with their respective Departments at home in support of the Project.
3. Having therefore no reason to apprehend that either the Admiralty or the War Office will require further modifications of the plan, and presuming that Your Lordship should accede approval to it, the only question which remains to be settled is the important one of contribution towards the cost of the work on the part of the Imperial Government.
4. Before entering upon the subject of the Admiralty portion of the proposed work, I should mention that the scheme, lately contemplated, of removing the Naval Yard to Kowloon, and obtaining for the Colony the land now occupied by it, has on further consideration appeared to be a very undesirable one for the Colony. Land is becoming of such value in Kowloon, that the sum likely to be obtained for the present site of the Naval Yard would not be sufficiently in excess of the sum which could be realised for the very much larger area required for the new site to prevent an exceedingly heavy loss to the Colony on the re-crection of the buildings.
5. On this ground alone the project did not appear to me to be worthy of further consideration on the part of this Government. There are however other objections to it. (1) Owing to the rapid growth of population in Kowloon. I apprehend that there would soon arise there the very same condition which has caused so much trouble in Victoria; viz. that created by the cutting of the town into two parts, and the obstruction to free communication between them. (2) I am disposed to think that with the Naval Yard at Kowloon, there would almost certainly be required some addition to our defence works, involving more expense to the Colony, not only in the cost of construction, but in the loss of the large area required for the necessary fort and to give free range to its guns.
6. Under these circumstances the scheme now proposed has appeared to me very far preferable as regards the Colony; and owing to its ready acceptance by the local authorities representing the Admiralty, I imagine it to be also not less desirable in the interests of the Navy. For it will be at once seen from a glance at the plan that the latter gain very largely by it in the following particulars :--- (1) by the conversion of the foul and noxious Admiralty foreshore (ut present so silted as to be inaccessible during low tide) into a large inland basin accessible at all times, and affording protection to the Naval lighters and boats now left exposed in the open during the typhoon season; (ii) by the formation, beyond the Fraya-
The Right Honourable
THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES.
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