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from 6 to 3 inches. The old mains have been taken up, any serviceable pipes being cleaned and put into store.

(vi). Extensions of Mains to North Point and Wongneichong.-This work has also been completed and the districts named now come within the distribution system of the City. The extensions include a length of 1.63 miles of cast iron pipes, 3 inches in diameter, and the provision of 9 public fountains and 20 fire hydrants.

48. Gardeners' Cottages.--This block of buildings, which is situated at the junction of MacDonnell and Garden Roads and has been erected from the designs and under the superintendence of Messrs. DENISON and RAM, Architects, was completed and handed over to the Botanical and Afforestation Department in September last. It contains accommodation for 12 married men and their families and 30 single inen, besides tool-houses and the usual offices. The outer walls are built of random rubble masonry with dressings of granite in exposed parts and of plaster in places where they are less liable to injury. The site is enclosed with a boundary wall of rubble masonry.

49. Extension and Improvements of Gas Lighting.-Particulars of the lighting of the City and Kowloon have already been given in paragraph 16 of this Report, from which it will be seen that substantial progress has been made with the substitution of incandescent for ordinary burners. At the end of the year there were in all 461 street lamps in use in the City and Kowloon fitted with incandes- cent burners as against 373 still using ordinary burners.

50. Raising Praya Wall, Shektongtsui.—This work was undertaken in consequence of the subsidence of a portion of the Praya wall, immediately westwards of the termination of the Reclamation which is now in progress, and was completed in June last. It consisted of taking up the coping of the wall, building courses of masonry, of varying thickness according to the amount of settlement which had taken place, and re-setting the coping.

51. Road from Plantation Road to Magazine Gap.-Operations were begun early in October for the construction of this road, and substantial progress has already been made with the western half of it. It was deemed prudent to concentrate the contractor's energies on this portion during the dry season. as it practically overhangs the Peak Tramway for some distance aud, owing to the steepness of the hill- side, involves some heavy cutting and the construction of retaining walls. The road will be 15 feet wide and will have a gradient of about 1 in 40 for the greater part of its length, the steepest gradients being about 1 in 20 for comparatively short distances.

52. Jubilee Celebrations.--Numerous public buildings and structures, including the Clock Tower, Queen's Statue, Government House, Central Market, Queen's College aud Tsimshatsui Police Station were illuminated on the night of the 22nd June. About 9,000 lanterns and 4,000 glass lamps, besides 1,325 incandescent electric lights were utilized for the purpose.

Stones to mark the commencement of the "Victoria Hospital" and "Victoria Road" were success- fully laid by His Excellency the Governor on the 23rd June, in connection with the works to be under- taken by the Colony in commemoration of Her Majesty's completing the 60th year of Her Reign.

53. Plague Account.--Practically the only expenditure incurred by this Department under this head was for the erection of two matsheds in the Taipingshan Resumed Area to accommodate the occupants of houses in which cases of plague had occurred, whilst the disinfection of the premises was in progress.

EXPENDITURE.

54. The usual statements of expenditure under the various votes will be found in Appendices J and K.

PRAYA RECLAMATION WORKS.

Fair progress was made with these works during the year under review. From the Special En- gineer's detailed report, the following particulars of the work section by section are taken:-

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Section No. 1.—No work was done on this section during the year beyond the laying of water and gas mains while the erection of buildings in the reclaimed land as authorized by C.S.O. proceeded. In December tenders were received for the completion of the road- ways by concreting and macadamizing the surface. The work on the western portion of this section, being the extreme western end of the Reclamation, remained in abeyance, owing to the refusal of the Marine Lot holders to join in the scheme.

Section No. 2.--The completion of the roadways on this section, which had been in abeyance for some time during the erection of new buildings and the laying of gas and water maius, was resumed on the 11th June under contract with Mr. TSANG KENG, and the work of concreting the roadways and footpaths, and macadamizing of other roads was almost completed on December 31st, the actual date of completion being January 11th, 1898. The work was satisfactorily done.