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94. The urgent need for a new Post Office well arranged, well lighted, and ventilated and equal to the present and prospective needs of this rapidly growing Colony has been so often and so strongly urged that it seems unnecessary to reiterate the facts which prove it. The special Commission which reported on the subject in 1896 wrote:-
The accommodation in the Post Office, &c., &c., is so cramped that there is not suffi- cient room to sort two heavy mails at the same time, while the space devoted to the business of the l'arcels Post is insufficient to secure the safe custody of parcels. In fact, the require- ments of the Colony have entirely outgrown the accommodation at present available.” Nevertheless in 1899, with the business enormously increased, Imperial penny postage introduced, cheaper parcel postage, additional mails arriving and departing, the accommodation remains the same. It is not too much to say that the new Post Office should be undertaken without further delay, even though additional taxation had to be resorted to in order to provide the necesary funds.
95. Ronds.—Waut of funds is also the excuse for but poor progress in new roads. Of those mentioned in the report for 1897 only the completion of the MacDonnell Road at an estimated cost of $7,500.00 is provided for in 1899, and possibly one mile of General Black's Link." Roads stand on quite a different footing from most public undertakings inasmuch as they are as a rule most dis- tinctly remunerative. The lands bordering on new roads, from being inaccessible and valueless, become saleable at good prices. It seems scarcely necessary to instance cases, one will suffice. The Barker Road was completed in December, 1898, at a cost of $26,880.00 and already three building sites have becu sold on it for a total premium of $8,595.00 with a certainty of a steady return in Crown Rent, rates and taxes secured to the Colony for ever. That similar or better results would follow from the opening of the road which has been traced to High West, and thence down to Upper Richmond Road, is beyond doubt. The same is true in Kowloon; as Station Street North on the West side, and Hok I'n Road on the East, have been pushed forward, applications for land have come in. The first named road has now been carried about half way across the tidal flat at Taikoktsui, it will probably in time be a great trunk road into China, crossing through one of the low gaps near Lai Chi Kok, and thence down the Sha-tiu Valley to Mirs Bay, to Taipohi and to Sham Chun. Yet only the balance of a vote of 1898, amounting to $3,902.00, is available for expenditure on this important highway in 1899. It was hoped that the close of 1898 would have shewn good_progress made with the Victoria Jubilee Road. Plans and estimates were ready in June, and by December fully six miles should have been well in band, but delays, such as are apparently inseparable from all works projected in Hongkong, have blocked the way in this case, and the "first sod" is as yet unturned. The Public Works Department, having no end in view but the public good, feel much disappointed and dis- heartened at this apparently unnecessary delay.
96. Water Works.-In 1899 no works to add to the storage of water are projected, but in 1900 an additional reservoir in the Tytam Valley will probaby become necessary to meet the demands of an increased population. Mr. COOPER's valuable report on the Water Supply of the City of Victoria and the Hill District of Hongkong, published in 1896, gives particulars regarding works which will probably become necessary to meet future requirements. The Kowloon supply is a more immediately pressing matter. In 1895 Mr. COOPER stated as follows: The available sources of water supply in British Kowloon are extremely limited, and should a large increase in the population occur, excep- tional measures appear necessary for providing a public water supply." The census of 1891 gave the population of the Districts supplied as 12,205 persons; we are now supplying fully 26,500 persons, and if our means admitted of it should supply fully 10,000 more. In the decade 1881 to 1891 the population of British Kowloon increased at the rate of 96 per cent. It seems not improbable that the increase from 1891 to 1901 will be fully at the rame ratio. It is therefore evident that the existing sources of supply are insufficient. The leasing of the new territory to the North of the present boundary removes all difficulties on this score: within a few miles of the boundary, streams, with an ample supply in the driest seasons, exist whose waters now run to waste near Laichikok. The flow of these streams has not yet been ganged, but appears so ample, even in the driest weather, that probably but a small impounding reservoir will be required, which should be at such an elevation as to com- mand all the populated areas on the peninsula by gravitation. The chief expense will be the main, and the dimensions of the iron piping to be used must be carefully calculated to be of sufficient dimen- sions to carry such a supply as will suffice for the inaximum population ever likely to inhabit the Kowloon peninsula.
97. Miscellaneous Works.--The removal of the existing unsightly and almost useless Clock Tower and the erection of a new one in a prominent situation, is as yet unprovided for.
DEPARTMENTAL AND PERSONAL.
98. The following Officers proceeded to Europe on leave during the year :—
Mr. DAVID WOOD, Office Assistant and Accountant, 12 months from 12th April.
Mr. J. R, CROOK. Executive Engineer, 12 months from the 27th April.
Mr. H. P. TOOKER, Executive Engineer, 8 months from 1st September.
Mr. E. M. HAZELAND, Assistant Engineer, proceeded on vacation leave to the North on
the 7th January and returned on the 1st April.
Mr. H. P. TOOKER had one month's sick leave to Japan from 23rd July.
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