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39. The roads outside Victoria were well maintained during the year, and considering the great number of cyclists who use them complaints were few and far between. A great improvement was effected in the road round the Happy Valley near Wongneichong Village. An awkward and dau- gerous curve for cyclists was taken out of the road, the old wooden bridge replaced by one of iron and concrete, and the road widened and otherwise improved. Two handsome stone bridges on the road up to Wongneichong Gap were completed. The new road to Aberdeen was improved by the substi- tution of some permanent stone culverts for wooden bridges and an improved connection with the coast road at Aberdeen formed.

40. The roads in Kowloon were kept in good order. Under the vote for their maintenance a contract was entered into for the construction of a new swing bridge over the entrance to the Harbour Police basin, of lighter and better design than the old bridge which had been for many months out of repair and un-usable.

MISCELLANEOUS WORKS.

41. Eleven works sanctioned under this vote early in the year were referred to in the half-yearly report and call for no further comment. Since June 30th the following works were sanctioned.

42. Government moiety of $2,500, towards the improvement of an area of about 7 acres of land in the West end of the City and as far as practicable forming it into a public park. This schem; arose out of an application to purchase land by two gentlemen who had large interests in the locality s failing to obtain it at what they considered its value, they generously agreed to give or guarantee e sum of $2,500.00 towards the improvement of the area in draining, laying out roads, planting treen and shrubs, &c., provided Government would vote an equal sum. About half the money was spent in 1898, and considerable improvement effected in what was a perfect wilderness of scrub jungle. A road through the land has been constructed from the end of Robinson Road to Lower Richmond Road; rocks have been blasted and removed, a huge bank of carth cut down and distributed over the area in forming spaces suitable for tree planting, which work, with turfing of the slopes, will be proceeded with shortly before the rains set in.

43. Considerable improvements were effected during the year inside the Gaol largely by convict labour, the Public Works Department merely supplying materials, supervision, and skilled labour occasionally.

44. A Mortuary was constructed in the Public Cemetery by extending the existing building. 45. A commencement was made with the construction of a large public latrine off Ship Street. 46. Additional quarters, which were very much needed, were provided at the Civil Hospital for the gate watchmen.

DRAINAGE AND SEWERAGE WORKS.

47. Sir WILLIAM ROBINSON, G.C.M.G., in a speech made shortly before he left the Colony, described Victoria as the best drained City east of Suez, but the best drained city in the world might suffer from bad smells and worse evils if the drains and sewers were misused, and without admitting that Hongkong, considering its densely packed population, suffers much in this respect, it is the fact that the Chinese do misuse the drains, and this is usually the cause of such complaints as from time to time are made. This refers to well grounded complaints, not to those made by thoughtless and ignorant speakers or irresponsible writers, who seem to think it clever, or a sign of superior knowledge, to decry the Hong- kong system of sewerage and drainage.

48. In Hongkong a perfect system of pipe sewers has been laid, of sufficient capacity to carry sullage water from the houses, and practically all houses are now connected with these sewers by pro- perly trapped house connections of glazed earthenware pipes. The intention was, and the hope is. that all sewage from the houses would rapidly find its way to these sewers, and by them to the out- falls in the harbour, and by the beneficent action of the tides to the open sea. No stopping beneath the houses or streets to breed foul and poisonous gases is possible, the bulk of the 3,000,000 gallons of water used daily in the City, still in the form of liquid, should pass through these pipe sewers, and in addition 32 flushing tanks are in existence at convenient points to give a further impetus to the flow in the pipes, and drive their contents completely and rapidly into the harbour.

49. There are still in existence, below many of the streets and below some of the houses, the old storm drains, varying in dimensions from over six feet in height to one foot square, but with little or no fall near the harbour front, into which in former times all sewage flowed, and which in many cases were little better than elongated cess-pools. The entrance of the tides into these drains banked up the sewerage of the City to poison the soil and the air in and about the Queen's Road level.