Sessional_Paper_1901 — Page 968

No. 8 M.

SIR,

963

No.

49

1901 '

HONGKONG.

INTERMITTENT SYSTEM OF WATER SUPPLY.

Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor.

Registrar General to Colonial Secretary.

REGISTRAR GENERAL'S OFFICE,

HONGKONG, 19th November, 1901.

The cutting off of the water supply for the greater part of the day causes, as His Excellency is no doubt aware, serious inconvenience to very many persons.

2. From 1897 to 1900 I lived in Caine Road, and the crowds of Chinese who obtained water from a hydrant placed at the corner of Peel Street and Caine Road shewed that the inhabitants of the houses in the neighbourhood did not receive enough water through the pipes laid on to their houses. When there was no water to be obtained from the hydrant the Chinese used to draw it from the drain which runs down Peel Street. I do not know where the water in the drain came from, but it was very dirty.

3. On one occasion no water reached the house in which I was living for 48 hours, and a house in the near neighbourhood was frequently without water for longer periods.

4. There are many four-storeyed houses inhabited by Chinese in which the water never reaches the top storey, and the people living there are dependent upon the complaisance of their neighbours for water.

5. It is hardly to be expected that the improvement in the water supply will keep pace with the increase of population, and I submit that the inconvenience caused by these recurrent water-famines, which may reasonably be regarded as in. evitable, is so great and so wide-spread that permanent measures should be taken to reduce it as far as possible.

6. I venture to suggest, but with all deference as I have no expert knowledge of the subject, that an increase in the number of street hydrants would be of some effect in procuring a fairer distribution of the water available.

I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Your most obedient Servant,

The Honourable COLONIAL SECRETARY,

$C..

&c.

Minute by the Colonial Secretary.

Honourable DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS,

For consideration and report.

22-11-01.

A. W. BREWIN,

Registrar General.

J. H. S. L.