Sir,
28
Surveyor-General, Hong Kong, to Colonial Secretary.
Public Works Department, Hong Kong,
2nd January 1889. In connection with the project for a proposed junction between the eastern and western halves of the city by means of an embankment carried along the front of the naval yard and military cantonments, I have the honour to report that, in consequence of the rapid silting up of the sea bed along this portion of the foreshore, I have found it necessary to discard all former maps and plans, and to incur the expense of an entirely new survey from the cricket ground to the blue buildings.
2. By the light of this new survey, I am now able to lay down the best position for the proposed embankment, and to recommend a design which, if carried out, will, I trust, render further reclamations outside the new sea wall unnecessary for a great many years to come.
3. The foreshore having shoaled up in places as much as 24 feet since 1880, it is now necessary to push the proposed breasting further out into the harbour along deeper water, a change which will tend to maintain present depths by promoting the scouring action of the tide along the sweeping curves of the proposed wall. The alteration, also, by giving a greater depth of water to craft coming alongside the quays, will be a great improvement on previous plans.
4. The change into deeper water will of course add largely to the cost of the work, but it will also greatly increase the area of new land to be reclaimed, so as to more than compensate for the increased cost, as the figures will presently show.
5. There is nothing in the plan, as now submitted, to which either the naval or military authorities have taken exception. The changes proposed, in fact, add to the extent of the military reclamations, and equally benefit Admiralty interests by enlarging the size of the proposed boat basin, as well as of the naval reclamation in front of the steam factory, so that this acquiescence on the part of the Imperial Departments is only what was to be expected.
6. Beginning from the west, the plan shows the new Praya placed at a distance of 300 feet from the present shore line, so as to bring it into alignment with the embankment to be made opposite the city hall and the cricket ground, under what is popularly known as "Mr. Chater's scheme." The new position, now selected for the breasting at this point, will give the North Barracks an additional 26,385 square feet of land, and will increase the total area to be recovered from the sea for the benefit of the War Office in front of these barracks to 134,215 square feet.
7. Crossing the Albany Nullah, over which a granite culvert will be built, and passing on to the Admiralty frontage, the plan shows the present naval yard foreshore converted into an inland boat basin, about 400 feet long by 200 feet wide, designed to afford under the lea of the embankment ample shelter for the naval yard launches, lighters and boats, for which there has never been any protection on this side of the harbour during rough weather. In addition to this commodious basin of 14 acres, the Admiralty will get a reclamation (shown tinted yellow in the plan) of 52,264 square feet in front of the steam factory. This reclamation will be available for future naval buildings.
8. In compliance with the requirements of Commodore Maxwell, R.N., Superintendent in charge of the yard, a headway of 143 feet above high water mark has had to be left under the bridge which spans the entrance to the boat basin.
This high headway has necessitated the adoption of rising gradients of 1 in 30 in the approaches to the bridge, which I fear will prove inconvenient to the future tramway and traffic of the embankment, and it is to be hoped that some reduction of headway may be feasible, and so render possible less steep approaches to the bridge. The rise and fall of the tide being 8 feet 9 inches, so large a headway as 14 feet 6 inches at high water would be increased to 19 feet at half tide, and to over 23 feet at low tide, dimensions which seem unnecessary, as the largest craft entering the basin will only be cargo boats.
9. In addition, the naval authorities have stipulated for two Admiralty quays to be built for the exclusive use of the naval yard outside the frontage line of embankment, one on each side of the entrance to the boat basin, as shown in the plan. These quays, which are to be inaccessible to the public, will be connected with the yard by means of subways passing under the embankment.
29
10. Also in compliance with naval requirements, a timber pier will be provided at the expense of the colony outside the embankment, opposite the westernmost subway. This pier, which will be projected into 19 feet of water, will have the present Admiralty shears erected upon it, and will be reserved for the sole use of Her Majesty's vessels.
11. From the foregoing brief description, and by a glance at the plan which accompanies this report, it will be seen that so far from naval interests being in any way prejudicially affected by the proposed embankment scheme, the naval yard will be much enlarged and improved, and its capabilities for usefulness greatly enhanced, for not only will the Admiralty acquire a considerable area of building land, but without having the communication with the sea in any way interfered with, or the privacy of the premises disturbed, it will have the present most objectionable black mud foreshore, which is inaccessible to boats during the hours of low tide, converted into a convenient basin with ample water for large lighters, to say nothing of the additional advantage of a deep water pier and granite quays, accessible at all times of tide to vessels of as great a draught as 19 feet.
12. Continuing eastward we pass from the Admiralty precincts to Marine Lot No. 22, or that portion of the military cantonments known as "Commissariat Buildings," and in front of which the reclamation will amount to 53,303 square feet. This property (Lot 22) was purchased by the War Office from its former owner, a Mr. Grinnell, for commissariat uses, but as Mr. Grinnell had no title to any land outside the four boundaries of his leasehold, he could not of course convey, and did not as a matter of fact convey, to the War Office any marine or other rights which he himself did not possess, and it is on this account that the Colonial Government has contended that any reclamations opposite Lot 22 would be the property of the colony, to be disposed of by the colony to the best advantage by way of partial reimbursement for the cost of the embankment. If, however, this reclamation were relinquished to the War Department it would, under any circumstances, be necessary for the Colonial Government to keep possession, for the purpose of a new public street, 30 feet wide, to be called Commissariat Street, a strip 15 feet in width, the remaining 15 feet of width to be taken from the adjoining Lot No. 21. This deduction of the 15-ft. strip, which contains 7,350 square feet, would reduce the area of the commissariat reclamation, available for building on, from 53,303 to 45,953 square feet.
13. Adjoining Lot 22, come Lots 21 and 20, the property of Mr. Edmund Sharp. The sea reclamation along Mr. Sharp's marine frontage, as in the preceding case of the commissariat premises, will be the property of the Colonial Government. The area will be 60,640 square feet (including the 15-ft. strip to be taken for the street), and if Mr. Sharp will defray the cost of the embankment and of the entire filling in, including the 15-ft. strip in front of the two lots, the Colonial Government will, I apprehend, see fit to allow him to retain the reclaimed land as an extension to Lots 20 and 21, on the same terms that it proposes to concede to the marine lot owners under Mr. Chater's Reclamation Scheme.
The deduction of the 15-ft. strip, containing 7,257 square feet required for the street, it should be stated, will reduce Mr. Sharp's building area from 60,640 to 53,383 square feet.
14. To the east of Lots 20 and 21 follow the Wellington Barracks with a proposed sea reclamation of 149,036 square feet, which will be the property of the War Department.
15. From the Wellington Barracks frontage, the embankment will pass along that of the Military Arsenal, which will get the benefit of 124,427 square feet of new land, and this land will be specially valuable to the War Office, because as the neighbourhood is already Chinese in character, the arsenal reclamations may be sold by the military authorities without any restrictions against the building of Chinese houses, a circumstance that will cause the sites to be eagerly competed for by native capitalists, who will pay at least from 3 to 4 dollars per square foot, these being the prices given at recent sales of ground on the opposite side of Arsenal Road. On this reclamation alone therefore the War Office stands to realize at least 435,739 dollars; in all probability the proceeds of the sales, if the land is judiciously parcelled out, will exceed 500,000 dollars.
16. After passing the arsenal frontage, the embankment will have to be diverted inshore in a rather abrupt, and I fear somewhat unsightly curve, as shown on the plan. This curve is unavoidable, and is necessary for the purpose of effecting a junction with the present Eastern Praya, at a point opposite the blue buildings. The embankment along the reverse curve however is intended to be only temporary, and the masonry of the wall will therefore be of a less costly type, the intention being to take down the embankment from the tangent point A (see Plan), and to carry it eastward in a straight line.
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I
451
Sir,
28
Surveyor-General, Hong Kong, to Colonial Secretary.
Public Works Department, Hong Kong,
2nd January 1889. In connection with the project for a proposed junction between the eastern and western halves of the city by means of an embankment carried along the front of the naval yard and military cantonments, I have the honour to report that, in consequence of the rapid silting up of the sea bed along this portion of the foreshore, I have found it necessary to discard all former maps and plans, and to incur the expense of an entirely new survey from the cricket ground to the blue buildings.
2. By the light of this new survey, I am now able to lay down the best position for the proposed embankment, and to recommend a design which, if carried out, will, I trust, render further reclamations outside the new sea wall unnecessary for a great many years to come.
3. The foreshore having shoaled up in places as much as 24 feet since 1880, it is now necessary to push the proposed breasting further out into the harbour along deeper water, a change which will tend to maintain presont depths by promoting the scouring action of the tide along the sweeping curves of the proposed wall. The alteration, also, by giving a greater depth of water to craft coming alongside the quays, will be a great improvement on previous plans.
4. The change into deeper water will of course add largely to the cost of the work, but it will also greatly increase the area of new land to be reclaimed, as to more than compensate for the increased cost, as the figures will presently show.
5. There is nothing in the plan, as now submitted, to which either the naval or military authorities have taken exception. The changes proposed, in fact, add to the extent of the military reclamations, and equally benefit Admiralty interests by enlarging the size of the proposed boat basin, as well as of the naval reclamation in front of the steam factory, so that this acquiescence on the part of the Imperial Departments is only what was to be expected.
6. Beginning from the west, the plan shows the new Praya placed at a distance of 300 feet from the present shore line, so as to bring it into alignment with the embank- ment to be made opposite the city hall and the cricket ground, under what is popularly known as "Mr. Chater's scheme." The new position, now selected for the breasting at this point, will give the North Barracks au additional 26.385 square feet of land, and will increase the total area to be recovered from the sea for the benefit of the War Office in front of these barracks to 134,215 square feet.
7. Crossing the Albany Nullah, over which a granite culvert will be built, and passing on to the Admiralty frontage, the plan shows the present naval yard foreshore converted into an inland boat basin, about 400 feet long by 200 feet wide, designed to afford under the lea of the embankment ample shelter for the naval yard launches, lighters and boats, for which there has never been any protection on this side of the harbour during rough weather. In addition to this coramodious basin of 14 acres, the Admiralty will get a reclamation (shown tinted yellow in the plan) of 52,264 square feet in front of the steam factory. This reclamation will be available for future nával buildings.
8. In compliance with the requirements of Commodore Maxwell, R.N., Superin- tendent in charge of the yard, a headway of 143 feet above high water mark has had to be left under the bridge which spans the entrance to the boat basiu.
This high headway has necessitated the adoption of rising gradients of 1 in 30 in the approaches to the bridge, which I fear will prove inconvenient to the future tramway and traffic of the embankment, and it is to be hoped that sone reduction of headway may be feasible, and so render possible less steep approaches to the bridge. The rise and fall of the tide being 8 feet 9 inches, so large a headway as 14 feet 6 inches at high water would be increased to 19 feet at half tide, and to over 23 feet at low tide, dimensious which seem unnecessary, as the largest craft entering the basin will only be cargo boats.
9. In addition, the naval authorities have stipulated for two Admiralty quays to be built for the exclusive use of the naval yard outside the frontage line of embank- ment, one on each side of the entrance to the boat basin, as shown in the plan. These quays, which are to be inaccessible to the public, will be connected with the yard by means of subways passing under the embankment.
29
10. Also in compliance with naval requirements, a timber pier will be provided at the expense of the colony outside the embankment, opposite the westernmost subway. This pier, which will be projected into 19 feet of water, will have the present Admiralty shears erected upon it, and will be reserved for the sole use of Her Majesty's vessels.
11. From the foregoing brief description, and by a glance at the plan which accompanies this report, it will be seen that so far from naval interests being in any way prejudicially affected by the proposed embankment scheme, the naval yard will be much enlarged and improved, and its capabilities for usefulness greatly enhanced, for not only will the Admiralty acquire a considerable area of building land, but without having the communication with the sea in any way interfered with, or the privacy of the premises disturbed, it will have the present most objectionable black mud fore- shore, which is inaccessible to boats during the hours of low tide, couverted into a convenient basin with ample water for large lighters, to say nothing of the additional advantage of a deep water pier and granite quays, accessible at all times of tide to vessels of as great a draught as 19 feet.
12. Continuing eastward we pass from the Admiralty precints to Marine Lot No. 22, or that portion of the military cantouments known as "Commissariat Buildings," and in front of which the reclamation will amount to 53,303 square feet. This property (Lot 22) was purchased by the War Office from its former owner, a Mr. Grinnell, for commissariat uses, but as Mr. Grinnell had no title to any land outside the four boundaries of his leasehold, he could not of course convey, and did not as a matter of fact convey, to the War Office any marine or other rights which he himself did not possess, and it is on this account that the Colonial Government has contended that any reclamations opposite Lot 22 would be the property of the colony, to be disposed of by the colony to the best advantage by way of partial reimbursement for the cost of the embankment. If, however, this reclamation were relinquished to the War Depart- ment it would, under any circumstances, be necessary for the Colonial Government to keep possession, for the purpose of a new public street, 30 feet wide, to be called Commissariat Street, a strip 15 feet in width, the remaining 15 feet of width to be taken from the adjoining Lot No. 21. This deduction of the 15-ft. strip, which con- tains 7,350 square feet, would reduce the area of the commissariat reclamation, available for building on, from 53,303 to 45,953 square feet.
13. Adjoining Lot 22, come Lots 21 and 20, the property of Mr. Edmund Sharp, The sea reclamation along Mr. Sharp's marine frontage, as in the preceding case of the commissariat premises, will be the property of the Colonial Government. The area will be 60,640 square feet (including the 15-ft. strip to be taken for the street), and if Mr. Sharp will defray the cost of the embankment and of the entire filling in, including the 15-ft. strip in front of the two lots, the Colonial Government will, I apprehend, see fit to allow him to retain the reclaimed land as an extension to Lots 20 and 21, on the same terms that it proposes to concede to the marine lot owners under Mr. Chater's Reclamation Scheme.
The deduction of the 15-ft, strip, containing 7,257 square feet required for the street, it should be stated, will reduce Mr. Sharp's building area from 60,640 to 53,383 square feet.
14. To the east of Lots 20 and 21 follow the Wellington Barracks with a proposed sea reclamation of 149,036 square feet, which will be the property of the War Depart
ment.
15. From the Wellington Barracks frontage, the embankment will pass along that of the Military Arsenal, which will get the benefit of 124,427 square feet of new land, and this land will be specially valuable to the War Office, because as the neighbourhood is already Chinese in character, the arsenal reclamations may be sold by the military authorities without any restrictions against the building of Chinese houses, a circum- stance that will cause the sites to be eagerly competed for by native capitalists, who will pay at least from 3 to 4 dollars per square foot, these being the prices given at recent sales of ground on the opposite side of Arsenal Road. On this reclamation alone therefore the War Office stands to realize at least 435,739 dollars; in all probability the proceeds of the sales, if the land is judiciously parcelled out, will exceed 500,000 dollars.
16. After passing the arsenal frontage, the embankment will have to be diverted inshore in a rather abrupt, and I fear somewhat unsightly curve, as shown on the plan. This curve is unavoidable, and is necessary for the purpose of effecting a junction with the present Eastern Praya, at a point opposite the blue buildings. The embankment along the reverse curve however is intended to be only temporary, and the masoury of the wall will therefore be of a less costly type, the intention being to take down the embankment from the tangent point A (see Plau), and to carry it eastward in a straight
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451
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