Crown Land revenue goes up
TOTAL
revenue
collected by the Hong Kong Crown Lands and Survey Office in the year 1960- 61 was $80,095,834 compared with $23,719,369 in the previous year 1959-60. states the annual report issued by the Director of Public Works for the financial year 1960- 61.
This was made up as follows (comparative figures for 1959-60 in brackets):
Premia in land sales etc
$70.657.061 ($20.998.349)
Permit fees
$8.208.662 ($2.500.875) Rental for ex-Kowloon Dockyard
properties
$1.198,536 ($171,107)
Boundary stones and survey
fees
Plans sold
$21.826 ($44,522)
$8,748 ($4,514)
The year was marked by a change in the method of disposal of Crown
or
SALES
ON
**
JA
To
40
10
10
land in the urban area, states the re- port. Most of the sales were in ac- cordance with a programme drawn up by the Crown Lands and Sur- vey Office. with only a few sales
Public Avehien
Private Tranty (For non-profit making)
institutemma ste.
Public AuCTION
Private Treaty
Taral
CROWN LANDS & SURVEY OFFICE
LAND SALES, DECADE 1931-1
5#*1100
Jo
22
60
10
19
1941-42 1941 MA (M54-35 19 1-17 (07-11 1911-10 191049 1940-41
IN
MILLIONS
being made to meet applications for individual sites.
This resulted in a steady pro gress of auction sales from June 1960 onwards at a rate of about two a week. The change in method result. ed in a big increase in the value and numbers of lots disposed of, as seen by the graph below.
Auction sales of industrial lots comprised 46 lots varying in size from 1.800 square feet to 102.000 square feet. Kowloon Inland Lot
No. 4427 at Sham Shui Po realised the highest price which represented a premium of $154.57 per square foot.
Non-industrial sites totalled 37. The highest price ever realised for a lot of Crown land at public auction was $14.250.000 for the northern portion of Murray Parade Ground Inland Lot No. 7702). representing a premium of $365.39 per square foot.
EXFOLIATED VERMICULITE
EXFOLIATED vermiculite, at pre- sent imported into Hong Kong in small quantities in its final form, will shortly be manufactured from the raw material in the Colony with a consequent reduction in its cost.
A mineral of the mica family. vermiculite in its raw state comes in fairly heavy granules. On heating and other treatment it expands to over sixteen times its original volume and becomes a valuable lightweight. chemically inert and incombustible substance with outstanding proper- ties as an insulating material which saves weight. resists fire, reduces condensation and absorbs sound.
The exfoliation treatment fills the granules with a mass of minute air cells. which keep their insulating properties from temperatures below zero to over 2.000 degrees Fahren- heit. In addition the treated mineral finds uses as diverse as internal plastering when made into a light- weight concrete with cement. fill for wall and ceiling insulation. furnace insulation. external weatherproofing, and horticulture where it is used as an inert growing medium.
In building chief uses for vermi- culite are in loose fill for ceilings and
74
partition walls, lightweight concrete screeds for roofs and floors, concrete blocks for partition walls, plaster for wails and ceilings, external in- sulating and weatherproofing render- ings. acoustic slabs and tiles, and fire-resisting concrete and plaster for protection of structural steel.
Other applications include its use as a soil conditioner, as an anti. caking medium for fertilisers and as a loose packing material for fragile articles. Research is going on in Britain into the use of ground ver- miculite as a filler in plastics and paints and as a dusting powder for moulds and roofing felts.
Apart from its use as a loose fill for insulation of walls and roofs. vermiculite is chiefly used in vermic. ulite concretes and plastering screeds.
In concretes the cement and ver- miculite called for in the formula used are mixed is the normal way with a minimum of water. The material will not flow under pressure but will only compress. It must be just sufficiently compressed to make it bond into a solid mass. Undue compression will expel the air trap- be vibrated as this will cause separa- pel in the vermiculite. It must not
tion of the mix.
Lightweight insulating screeds are widely used in Britain and other! countries on all kinds of flat. low. pitched and barrel-vault roofs. Use as flooring screeds prevents loss of heart or cold and reduces the trans mission of sounds.
Vermiculite plasters find increas ing use because of their light weight. which is approximately half that of the traditional sand plaster, and of their fire-resisting qualities. Tests have shows that a half-inch vermicu lite-gypsum plaster applied to both sides of a 4 inch wall has a fire resistance grading of four hours. The resilience and softness of the vermiculite also gives vermiculite plasters great resistance to cracking and spalling
Nearest place to Hong Kong where vermiculite is at present exfoliated is at the Malayan Bitumen Products Ltd. factory in Singapore. This has to be imported in its bulky final form, with a consequent increase in price. But manufacture will shortly! begin in Hong Kong by the Far East Oil Company Ltd., a Butterfield and Swire associate company, at North
Point.
THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER-VOLUME 17, NUMBER 1
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.