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breaking and repairing of the cable, a spare cable belonging to the Telegraph Company was very kindly placed at the disposal of the Government by the General Manager and the serious interruption of the service which would otherwise have occurred was thus avoided.

7. Public Cemetery.--The public cemetery has been maintained without involving any exceptional expenditure. The number of interments has been 81.1

8. Maintenance of Praya Walls and Piers.-Some exceptional repairs were rendered necessary by the storms which visited the Colony during the months of September and October last. The surface of the Praya roadway suffered considerably both in Hongkong and Kowloon and the backing of the walls was washed out in several places. Stones were dislodged from the walls in a few instances and at Kennedy Town the pitching of the rubble mound which forms the present termination of the Reclamation was disturbed a good deal at the outer end. The piers generally suffered damage, none of them seriously however. All the repairs have been made in a very substantial manner and in several places the surface of the roadway has been concreted in order to avoid a repetition of the damage.

9. Maintenance of Lighthouses.—With the exception of Gap Rock, none of the lighthouses have required any exceptional repairs. The damage done to Gap Rock lighthouse by the typhoon of the 1st.-2nd. October has formed the subject of a special report (vide Gazette, pp. 1,098 and 1,105) and need not be described again here. Satisfactory progress is being made with those repairs which it has been possible to execute with the materials available locally, and the new crane to replace the one washed away has been landed on the Rock and is in course of erection.

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10. Maintenance of Disinfector. The building and apparatus is in a satisfactory state of repair and very little expenditure has been incurred on them during the year.

11. Dredging Foreshores.-The dredger has been principally employed at Causeway Bay from which 31,300 cubic yards of material have been removed. Of this quantity, 29,900 cubic yards have been deposited in the Praya Reclamation. The dredging craft and machinery are at present under- going a thorough overhaul in order to maintain them in a state of efficiency.

12. Miscellaneous Works.-The principal works carried out under this heading have been the following:-

Providing and fixing an anemometer at the Peak.

Providing drying rooms and lavatories at the Civil Hospital.

Erecting iron railings at the Lunatic Asylums.

Constructing two wells at Yaumati and Hunghom.

Erecting boundary walls at West Point Reformatory.

Reconstructing Magazine Gap Road Bridge.

Providing and fixing a new cooking range at Government House.

Erecting an Opium Searching House.

Constructing a telescope house at the Observatory.

All these works have been completed with the exception of the one last mentioned and in that case only the mounting of the telescope remains to be done.

13. Maintenance of Roads and Bridges in Victoria.-The following roads have been re-macadam- ized and improved by straightening the kerbs, &c., viz. :-Queen's Road West to New Street, Wing Lok Street, Jervois Street, Queen's Street, Bonham Strand West, Mercer Street, Cross Street, Rutter Street and Hollywood Road.

The Praya roadway at Kennedy Town from Collinson Street to Slaughter House Point, the road past St. John's Cathedral and a portion of Garden Road have been concreted and the roads generally have been maintained in good repair.

14. Maintenance of Roads and Bridges out of Victoria.--The surfaces of Mount Kellett Road from its junction with the Aberdeen Road to Des Voeux Villas, the Peak Road from Mount Austin Hotel to Rural Building Lot No. 59, the lower portion of Bowen Road and a portion of Aberdeen New Road have been concreted with lime and cement concrete. The main street of Aberdeen has been macadam- ized, kerbed and channelled. The Aberdeen Road and the circular road round Mount Kellett have been put in thorough repair. Considerable damage was done by the storms of September-October to the road from Aberdeen to Stanley and the Shaukiwan Road at places where they skirt the shore, the protecting walls being washed away and breaches made by the sea. This damage has been nearly completely repaired and the roads have been restored and re-surfaced. The road to Cape D'Aguilar is now under repair and minor repairs have been effected in various parts throughout the Island.

15. Maintenance of Roads and Bridges in Kowloon.-Bulkeley Street at Hunghom and a portion of Station Street at Yaumati have been macadamized, kerbed and channelled. The Praya roadway from Tsim-sha-tsui Point to Elgin Road suffered considerable damage from the storms already referred to. The surface has been concreted with lime and cement concrete and put in thorough repair. Minor repairs have been made in various parts of the Peninsula.