Sessional_Paper_1887-1888 — Page 317

To

(5)

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT,

HONGKONG, 23rd July, 1888.

SIR,

In accordance with the instructions received from the Government. I have the honour to report that I have carefully studied the question of the main drainage of the city of Victoria and now beg to submit the following observations.

Since my arrival in the Colony early in January I have been making myself acquainted with the existing main-drains and I have at length obtained the necessary local information to enable me to lay before you a complete scheme of sewerage and sewage disposal. Accompanying this Report I forward :

1. Diagrams showing the Hongkong rain-fall.

2. Plans showing the tidal currents in the harbour as indicated by float

experiments.

3. Plans showing the existing drains.

4. Plans of the City-Sheets I, II, III, showing the proposed works.

5. Sections along the proposed lines of main sewers.

TOPOGRAPHICAL.

The city of Victoria as will be seen from the Ordnance Survey lies on the northern slope of the range of hills running from east to west across the Island, and extends from North Point on the east to the Sulphur Channel on the west. the harbour forming the northern, and the 400-foot contour line above sea level. the southern boundary of the city.

With the exception of the level portion of the lower town between Queen's Road, and the Praya, and of the Wantsai district, the whole of the ground has a steep declivity towards the harbour.

The level portions, to a very large extent, have been reclaimed from the sca and consequently the buildings have been erected upon made ground of a more or less porous character. The rest of the city is built on disintegrated granite in various stages of decomposition. In some parts the soil is what is locally known as red earth, in others there is a large proportion of hard rock immediately under- lying the surface. On studying the levels it will be observed that the city is naturally divided into several distinct drainage areas, the principal water partings running nearly north and south, or at right angles to the line of Praya.

The method of house construction and the habits of the Chinese are subjects which have been dealt with by Mr. CHADWICK, in his exhaustive Report on the Sanitary Condition of Hongkong, as recently as 1882, and as in that Report Mr. CHADWICK enters very fully into native local habits and customs so far as they come within the scope of the Sanitarian I propose here only to add a few supple- mentary remarks with reference to the growth of the city of Victoria since Mr. CHADWICK'S Report was written and to the probable still further extension of the city.

Since 1882 sea reclamations at Kennedytown and Slaughter-house Point on the west and at Causeway Bay on the east, have been carried out by the Govern- ment, and the two first of these reclamations are to a considerable extent already built over.

The Causeway Bay reclamation has not yet been utilized for buildings but a few houses have been erected on the Shaukiwán carriage road a little further to the eastward. In the upper town new sites have been opened further up the hillsides above the level of the Bonham and Caine Roads. Many houses in the Chinese quarter have been rebuilt in a better style and increased in height with a view to affording further accommodation.

The population of Victoria in 1882, was 163,000 it is now 180,000.

The Honourable J. M. PRICE,

&c.,

Surveyor General,

&t.,

&c.