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No Scheme Too Large. With the experience of the past before us and at the present rate of Kowloon's expansion, scheme of water supply can be con- sidered too large or any section of it unnecessary. It was after pro- longed deliberation that the unoffi- cial members of this Council urge the immediate commencement
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of
"The linking up of the water supply on the mainland with the Island of Hong Kong has already been authorised and work on the mainland is already in progress to effect the joining up of the Shing Mun scheme with the water system in the City of Victoria. But the
under the Harbour has been a mat- ter of considerable discussion.
44
the works specified in both the Re-actual method of laying the pipe solutions apart from any other scheme in contemplation." Permit me, Sir, to emphasize the last phrase in the preamble to the Re- solutions. It was added on ad- visedly so that there may be some elasticity in undertaking works not both specifically provided for in Resolutions.
Kowloon Tong. Intimately bound up with the larger question of the water sup- ply to the Colony generally is that of the Kowloon Tong supply. On the representations of residents of this Garden City, I have been ask- ed to submit their case for urgent and sympathetic consideration at Your Excellency's hands.
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Theirs
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The Director of Public Works has recently submitted to the Government a very full report by the Water Engineer on the latter's proposal to lay the pipe along the bed of the Harbour at a cost of some $300,000 and this proposal has received Your Excellency's ap- proval.
Ready In A Year,
It is now proposed to send the Water Engineer to England to ex- plain his proposals in detail and, after obtaining the concurrence of the Secretary of State, to order the materials and return to Hon," Kong in the shortest possible time.
"If the Secretary of State's ap- proval is obtained it is hoped that the work will be completed by the end of the present year and that before January next the water from Shing Mun will be delivered to consumers in Hong Kong.
"We must not disguise from Gurselves the fact that the water supply available from Shing Mun cannot, without extension of the Shing Mun Works, suffice for both Kowloon and Hong Kong. Inves- tigations are already in progress as to the possible extensions of the Shing Mun scheme by means of storage rezervoirs "
is an independent supply for flush- ing and gardening purposes over which the Government has no con- trol. In practice the arrangement, which promised a constant supply of water even in the driest season, has been found to be far from satis- factory. For some time past no water has been available to re- sidents on the first floor of houses within the Kowloon Tong area. When water did come, it only came in driblets. Subscribers to the Kowloon Tong Scheme have been clamouring for Water, water, and in a dry district yet more water of the Colony not by virtue of a Prohibition Law hut by reason of an arrangement which does not
This investigation would take a function to entire satisfaction. This is a matter of such great im- considerable time, he continued, one reservoir with portance to public health that I but there was
which it was possible to proceed at feel that all that is needed for my "constituents at Kowloon Tong once, and that was the so-called is to bring it to the notice of Your Byewash reservoir below the pre- Excellency in order to claim sent Kowloon reservoir referred to prompt attention from the Govern- in the second part of the motion. ment. I beg to support the Re-This reservoir did not form part solutions before the Council.
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THE COLONIAL SECRETARY.
"The Government welcomes the motion which has been proposed by the Honourable the Senior Unoffi- cial Member and I am authorised to say that the motion has the fullest support from the Govern- ment," said the Colonial Secretary.
"
As Honourable Members are aware, the seriousness of the situa- tion as regards the water supply of the Colony is well known to the Government and the matter has
of the original Shing Mun pro- posals but was intimately connect- ed with them and its construction was of so comparatively simple a nature and its utility so obvious that the speaker was authorised to say that His Excellency fully ap- proved of the construction of this reservoir, and, in view of the urgency for increasing the storage on the mainland, had given instructions for work on the Byewash reservoir to be commenced forthwith. The cost was estimated at $600,000 and the storage capa- city at 200 million gallons.
The Government welcomed the unanimous support of the Unoffi- cial Members to the proposals set out by the Senior Unofficial Mem- ber and Members could rest assur- ed that the works would be carried received constant consideration to completion with the least pos- throughout the whole of the past sible delay. (Applause).
year.
The resolution was adopted un- animously.
"It is a great satisfaction to me that the motion has been passed unanimously," commented His Ex- cellency.
Honourable Members are also not unaware that Your Excellency has been dealing with this subject in London, and it is a matter of The meeting was then adjourned great satisfaction that it has be-
come possible at this first meeting of Council after Your Excellency's return, to announce a definite step forward toward that improvement of the Colony's water supply, which is so urgently needed.
sine die,
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