Sessional_Paper_1886-1887 — Page 399

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10. The portion tinted green is at present during the hours of low water, an objectionable foreshore extending out over 300 feet. The original reclamation project of 1883, had comprised this foreshore in the area to be filled in, but the great cost involved ultimately led to the curtailment of the project and only the land shewn, tinted red, has been filled in.

11. It is also recommended that the area already reclaimed (coloured red) be raised in the form of a slope to an additional height averaging three feet through- out, with a view to keeping the proposed new sewers and house drains well above sea-level and in order to give them a gradient or fall towards the sea, sufficient to impart due velocity to the flow of sewage along the main drainage arteries shewn in blue lines on the plan.

12. The sewerage of the new district could not be emptied into Causeway Bay for in this circumscribed corner of the harbour there are no tidal currents capable of carrying the noxious effluents out to sea. The contents of all main drains must therefore be gathered into one intercepting sewer and taken along the Shaukiwan Road in the direction of North Point and there emptied into the tidal current.

13. In order to reduce the size and cost of these main sewers and of the general intercepting sewer, it is not intended to lead any storm waters into them. Rain drainage may be allowed to escape into Causeway Bay.

14. It is doubtful whether Causeway Bay lots would be taken up, in any great number, unless this distant suburb is brought into cheap and speedy com- munication with the City. To meet the contingency a tramway is proposed as essential to the success of the scheme. I would have advocated the laying of a tramway from Whitfield Station to Kennedy town had the junction of the Praya along the water frontage of the Military Cantonments and Naval Yard been an accomplished fact, but in view of the uncertainty of this work being carried out, at once, I limit myself for the present to the recommendation of a line from Whitfield Station along the Praya to a terminal point at the corner of the Blue Buildings. When the Praya junction is completed the tramway can be extended to Kennedy town.

15. The proposed new township will be intersected by streets sixty feet wide and the Chinese system of back to back houses will be rendered impossible by the interposition of ten feet lanes between each row of houses. The allotments will be 15 feet wide by 60 feet deep, these being the favourite dimensions of the native house builder. Each allotment will hold therefore only one house. Assessed for premium at the prices obtained at the recent auction sale of similar lots adjoining Whitfield Station, the 1,200 lots may realize an average of 20 cents a square foot or $180 per lot, and the total to be derived from premiums, will therefore be $216,000.

16. Based on the Crown rents of the Whitfield Station lots, .e. $125 per quarter acre, the 1,200 allotments representing as before stated an area of 271⁄2 acres will bring in to the Colonial Treasury an annual revenue of $13,750.

17. It is estimated that the rates and taxes on the 1,200 new houses will come to about $20,625 bringing the total annual receipts up to $34,375. The purchase money i.e. $216,000 together with the first year's annual rents and taxes would therefore amount in all to $250,375.

18. The cost of filling in that portion of the ground which is shewn, tinted green, on the plan will be $70,000. The cost of a sea-wall along the sea-frontage is estimated at $35,000 while the cost of raising by another three feet the present reclamation shown tinted red will be $20,000. The main sewers and intercepting sewer are estimated at $90,000 and the formation of the new streets at $20,000. The total outlay on reclamation and sewerage works will thus amount to $235,000. In general terms and allowing a wide margin for unforeseen contingencies it may be assumed that the amount to be received in premiums when all the lots are sold, plus the first year's annual Crown rents and the house rates leviable will balance the prime cost of the works.

19. With regard to the tramway from Whitfield Station to the Blue Buildings I hope shortly to submit estimates of cost of construction, maintenance and working. It is open to doubt however whether the cost of the tramway could equitably be debited to the reclamation project inasmuch as the line would be a municipal improvement of benefit to the entire general public and not of benefit solely to Causeway Bay.