Sessional_Paper_1905 — Page 817

REPORT ON SCHEMES UNDERTAKEN

FROM 1894 TO 1905.

TAIPINGSHAN Resumption. The serious outbreak of plague in 1894 gave rise to the first resumption scheme undertaken for the purpose of improving the sanitary condition of the City of Victoria. During the course of the epidemic, the inhabitants of a large area in the Taipingshan District were evicted, accommodation being provided elsewhere for those who liked to avail themselves of it, and, after resumption of the property by the Government, the area was entirely cleared of buildings and laid out afresh in building lots with streets and lanes suitably arranged. Owing to the irregularity and steepness of the ground, the operations involved were of a very extensive and costly nature. Numerous high retaining walls had to be built, streets and lanes formed, and sewers and storm-water drains constructed to suit the re-arrangement of the building lots. The various works were not completed until 1899 and the expenditure on them, after deducting various credits for materials sold or deposited as filling in the Praya Reclamation, amounted to $103,128.60. The cost of resuming the property, including all charges, was $821,268.32, making the total cost of the scheme $924,396.92. The amount realized by the sale of building lots up to the present time amounts to $171,393.50.

A considerable proportion of the land rendered available for building purposes was utilized for the creation of public gardens or devoted to other public purposes, thus reduci. g the area intended for sale and largely augmenting the financial loss on the scheme.

Full particulars of the scheme are given in the annexed tables.

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LOWER LASCAR ROW RESUMPTION. No further resumptions on sanitary grounds were undertaken until 1902, when Messrs. Chadwick and Simpson visited the Colony to report on its condition from a sanitary point of view and advise the Government with regard to the adoption of measures for its improvement. During their visit a fire occurred which practically destroyed a number of houses near the junction of Lower Lascar Row and Ladder Street. It was considered that an opportunity was thus afforded of improving the neighbourhood, which was a congested one, and Messrs. Chadwick and Simpson formulated a small scheme, which they submitted to Government. This scheme was only partially carried out, a portion of it which involved the payment of heavy compensation without any commensurate benefit to neighbouring properties being abandoned. The expenditure on the portion carried out was $38,097.79, the entire area resumed being devoted to the formation of a street about 32 feet wide between the houses fronting on Queen's Road and those fronting on Circular Pathway.

Details of the areas resumed and expenditure involved are given in the annexed tables.

KAU-U-FONG RESUMPTION-The task of formulating and carrying out improvement schemes in a systematic manner was first undertaken in 1903, when a start was made with a densely-built block lying west of Aberdeen Street and between Wellington and Gough Streets and known as Kau-U-Fong. Twenty-four houses in Kau-U-Fong, South and West, and eight in On Wo Lane were resumed in addition to two in Aberdeen Street and three in Gough Street, and all of these were entirely demolished. A new street 30 feet in width, has been constructed and it is proposed to dispose of the surplus land for building purposes. The scheme is not quite completed and a complete and accurate statement of the cost cannot therefore be given.

The figures available are, however, given in the annexed tables.

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W. CHATHAM,

Director of Public Works,