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A.-Taking it roughly, all the streets and roads on which Europeans travel have been done, Caine Road, Bonham Road, Queen's Road Central, and all the thorough- fares frequented by Europeans the gully holes have been trapped or flapped. There have been some trapped since this Commission began to sit.
852.-They are no use for ventilation?
A. Certainly not, when they are trapped.
853.-Between Mr. AITKIN's house and Fairlea there is a sewer and there are a number of openings in it, four in one group and four in another. Do you know if these
are trapped or open?
A.-I cannot say, but I can say generally, the further you go west the less trapping there has been done in the public streets. I have some rough sketch plans of Chinese blocks of houses which will give some idea of the way drainage is done for blocks of houses. On inland lot 8, there are seventy houses. All the drains shown on the plan are private drains draining these seventy houses. They are all trapped and not venti- lated. They run down Wellington Street and join the main sewer and the gas would have to travel over 400 yards to find an escape by the shaft.
854. In narrow streets like we have in Hongkong you could not put ventilators over the sewers in the streets; people would find them so disagreeable they would close them up. It is only in wide streets like you have at home that you can put ventilators.
A.-Hongkong is so steep that if you had a good drainage system it should not take more than a few hours for sewage matter from the most remote part of the town to reach the sea; that is to say, it should reach the sea before it has any chance of giving off any gas. The sewage is retarded now by the roughness of the bottom of the sewers, the want of any proper system of drainage, the flatness of the gradients in one or two cases, and the want of water. As soon as we get the water from Tytam I anticipate there will be a great change in the condition of the sewers.
855.—Are you acquainted with any marshy districts in Hongkong?
P
A. Yes, there is one by Richmond Terrace, another above Rose Villas, and one below No. 1 Tank.
856. Would it be difficult to drain these?
A.-No.
857. Or expensive?
A.No. It requires no special Ordinance or anything to drain these.
• 858.--There is a scheme before the Government now, that we heard of from Mr. PRICE the other day; would it be inconsistent with that scheme to set to work and drain those marshy districts now?
A.-No; the thing might be done any time. If I happened to want to build on one of those sites it is the first thing I would do.
859.-Where would you drain it to?
A.-Into the nearest sewer. The water is perfectly clean: in many places the Chinese get it to drink.
860.-Is that separate from storm water?
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