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Letter from the
Honourable the
Colonial Secretary.
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE. 27TH SEPTEMBER, 1890.
To which I had the honour to receive the following reply :- No. 1637.
COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE,
HONGKONG, 17th November, 1888.
SIR,-In reply to your letter of the 14th instant, asking to be furnished with the detailed plans and estimates in connection with the proposed system of separate main drainage, I am directed by the Governor to inform you, that the only question is as to the goodness or badness of the proposed scheme; and on this the estimates have no bearing.
His Excellency has, however, no objectiou to your inspecting the plans, at your convenience, in this office.
I have the honour to be,
R. K. LEIGH, Esq.,
A.M.I.C.E., &C., &c., &c.
Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
(Signed)
FREDERICK STEWART, Colonial Secretary.
communication
Before proceeding with any criticism on the proposed scheme of drainage, I wish to state, that I have not Disclaimer of written to any paper either anonymously or otherwise on the subject, and that consider any man who has to Newspapers. received the education of a Civil Engineer and who has practised his profession at home, ought to be, with the necessary local experience, perfectly competent to deal with the comparatively simple engineering question of the drainage of this City.
Professional experience.
Mr. Chadwick's opinions of the existing drains,
Confirmation of Mr. Chadwick's opinions.
Description of Mr. Chadwick's proposals.
Proposed to
utilize existing
Having been for three years Assistant Engineer in the Surveyor General's Department (February, 1880, to October, 1882), during which time this very question of drainage came prominently forward owing to the visit of Mr. OSBERT CHADWICK, and it having been my duty, while in the Department, to make the map shewing the drains of the City, a reduced copy of which is to be found attached to Mr. CHADWICK'S report, and again to Mr. COOPER's report, I consider myself thoroughly acquainted with the existing drains.
The existing drains are very clearly described by Mr. CHADWICK as follows:
"The public sewers appear to have been made, rather as drains to carry off storm water, than as sewers to remove from habitations the foul waters usually known as sewage. Neither their form nor their construction "is that which is considered desirable for the latter purpose. They do not appear to have been made on any "general plan, but rather to have been constructed from time to time as the necessity arose, and they seem to "have been designed to convey the storm waters and perennial flow from the ravines above, and the surface "water of the streets and houses, by the shortest and most direct line to the harbour, into which they discharge "their contents through large openings in the wharf wall. The inverts of these outlets are at about the level of "low water ordinary spring tides. They are not provided with tide-flaps. With few exceptions no attempt has "been made to carry out the effluent below low-water mark, nor to select positions for out-falls where a strong “tidal stream would remove it. Consequently deposit takes place at their mouths, and hence at low tide there "is a most offensive smell along the whole harbour front."
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I confirmed part of the above in the following terms before the late Fever Commission:--
"I think the chief fault of the drainage of Hongkong, is, that it has grown from time to time, without any proper system being carried out. As the sewers become a nuisance, so they were trapped, both by private "individuals on a very wholesale scale, and also by the Government in the roads. This trapping to all intents "and purposes unventilated the sewers, and increased the nuisance; as to the sewers themselves, some of them
--many of the more modern ones-are of a very good section, some of the older ones are not."
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Having thus touched upon the present drainage of the City, I will now proceed to describe Mr. CHADWICK'S proposal.
He proposes to utilize the present drains for the conveyance of sewage and rainfall as at present, modifying drains for con- and improving their section, &c., and constructing an intercepting sewer on the Praya Wall, of sufficient capacity
veyance of
sewage and rain- fall, ie, on the
Combined System.
to carry off the sewage and a small amount of rainfall, carrying this intercepting sewer to an outfall in the Sulphur Chanuel, at which point he would require to pump the sewage.
Whenever there was a heavy rainfall,
as is usual during the rainy season, a free discharge is allowed direct into the harbour through the present outlets.
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