CO129-538-3 Development of Government sites and rebuilding of Government buildings 17-12-1931 - 22-10-1932 — Page 39

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Havale

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Encl. No.3.

not necessitate its continuation beyond a certain point until

the situation appears favourable.

5.

There is no doubt however that three matters require

early attention.

These are the rebuilding or replacement

of the City Hall, the rebuilding or disposal of Beaconsfield

Arcade and the rebuilding of Government House.

I have

The building known as

already dealt with the first of these.

Beaconsfield Arcade was acquired by Government in 1918 with

the intention that part of the site should be granted to the

Y.M.C.A. This intention was not carried out and it has

since been used for the most part as temporary Government

offices.

The building has now been condemned as unsafe and

it will be necessary to demolish it in the near future, The

site can be extended considerably by cutting away the hillside to the south of Queen's Road so as to provide for a block of

buildings extending from Murray Parade Ground to Ice House

Street, as shown on the plan. It will be necessary for

the purpose to acquire Inland Lot 564 which is occupied by one

of the oldest buildings in the Colony, at a cost estimated at

some $160,000. The area thus made available for sale

together with the balance of the City Hall site not required

by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank will, it is thought, readily

find purchasers, situated as it is in a central locality and

on one of the main thoroughfares.

6. With regard to Government House, I enclose a copy

of the recommendations of the Retrenchment Commission with

which I am in general agreement although I consider that a

more suitable position might be found in the neighbourhood of

Magazine Gap, possibly on the site of the former Military

Sanatorium.

The existing building which dates from 1856 is in many

respects unsuited to present day requirements.

Moreover the

building