646060-1894-Legislative-Council-No-10 — Page 4

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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, STH DECEMBER, 1894.

The resumption of the property, and the consequent provision for compensation for such resumption, was therefore obligatory.

The area comprises, roughly speaking, 400,000 square feet, or 10 acres of land, and the amount of compensation has been roughly estimated at between $700,000 and $800,000. This sum, together with the incidental expenses of the Arbitration Board and its officers, will have to be provided hereafter. It will probably be advisable to raise a loan for that purpose, and in that case I hope that the Colony will be able to meet the interest on it out of the excess of income over expenditure which will accrue from year to year. For the moment, no doubt, this expenditure seems very heavy, but if the steps taken in regard to the resumed arca prevent, as it is confidently hoped they may, a recrudescence or recurrence of the disease, no expenditure of money and no sacrifice of time can be deemed too costly or too great.

On the other hand we may certainly look in the future if not for a complete reimbursement of the sums expended, at any rate for a considerable reimbursement by the readjustment of premia and Crown rent on the sale of the property resumed.

Until the survey of the area which is now proceeding is completed, and a definite line of action decided on, it is impossible to give any precise figures as to the amount the property will bring in on its resale.

Whatever may be the result of the resumption and the operations connected therewith which I have endeavoured to describe we shall feel that we have done our best honestly to rehabilitate a neighbourhood hitherto pre-eminent for its filth and unhealthiness, and we may be sure that the money expended will not have been expended in vain.

I will now explain the intentions of the Government in respect to Taitam Reservoir. An insufficient supply of water is considered to rank among the several defects of sanitation with which we have had to deal. To meet this defect the Government proposes as soon as possible to raise the existing Reservoir Dam at Taitam by 12 feet 6 inches. We propose also to construct a weir 10 feet above the level of the existing one and to surmount the same by a moveable sluice capable of raising the top water level of the reservoir to a height of 12 feet 6 inches above its present level. It is anticipated that these works under normal conditions will increase the storage capacity of the Reservoir by 78,000,000 gallons, and possibly by the use of the sluice by 98,000,000 gallons. The total storage capacity of Taitam Reservoir alone will then be 400,000,000 gallons. The cost of these works is estimated at $60,000, an amount which can be fairly charged against the Loan of 1892. This matter will be laid before the Public Works Committee of this Council this afternoon.

I take the opportunity, of laying on the table a report on the subject of the Water Supply by the Consulting Engineer, Mr. CHADWICK, and I think you will find his remarks in reference to the evils of the intermittent system and the necessity of preventing unne- cessary waste instructive and apposite to the circumstances of Hongkong.

I now come to an extremely interesting question and that is the construction of the Sanitary Board. I need not say that this subject has engaged the most earnest consideration of the Government, and I have consulted you, Gentlemen, and have obtained your written opinions in regard to it. You will remember that the Retrenchment Committee, after a searching enquiry into all the departments of the public service, directed my special attention to the Sanitary Board. The Committee suggested that the whole sanitary system should be placed on a different basis; that all sanitary arrangements and powers should be placed in the hands of one thoroughly competent officer who should be personally responsible to Government for all matters connected with the health of the Colony and for carrying out all sanitary laws and regulations. The majority of the Unofficial Members of this Council. appear to concur in that view, and favourable as I am personally to municipal and repre- sentative institutions where they can be safely established, I am bound to say that I consider that their opinion is one that should, in this instance, be acted upon. So far as my experience goes, this Colony stands on quite a different footing, in regard to sanitary matters, from other Colonies with which I am acquainted. The really great difficulty in connection with matters of sanitation in Hongkong arises out of the customs of the Chinese population. You can neither make people sober nor clean by Act of Parliament, and sanitary arrange- ments in this Colony with its 200,000 Chinese inhabitants must be subject to constant supervision and superintendence by a large staff of officers working under a head, who must give his whole time and energies to the duties of his office. That a Sanitary Board, meeting once a fortnight, could properly control and direct such a staff, I do not believe, and that four or five independent gentlemen could be found who have the time and inclination to devote several hours daily to such a task is beyond the bounds of possibility. I hope shortly to be in a position to inform you definitely what steps it has been decided to take to place the Sanitary Board on a new basis.