496
MAINTENANCE OF ROADS.
The Hun. R. D. Ormsby, Director of Public Works, in his annual report says:
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
The roads and streets of the city have been kept generally in good repair. The prolonged drought towards the end of the year caused some of them to break up rather badly, but on other hand the year had been free from heavy and destructive rainfall. An experiment was made in surfacing a portion of Queen's Road with the hard blue crystalline gneiss of which there is abundance in the colony instead of with friable white granite. There is no doubt that the life of a road laid with the firstnamed stone would be much longer, and the streets so sur- faced much cleaner in wet weather. The road so treated is wearing well, but the trial was not a fair one, as it was found impossible to roll in and consolidate the metal with stone rollers drawn by cooliès, and consequently an undue quantity of disintegrated granite and sand was laid over the stone. The contractor found that the cost of breaking the blue stone was double the cost of breaking the granite, a clear proof of the superiority of the former as a road material. Both these difficulties have been overcome by the purchase of a mechine stone breaker and the ordering of a ten-ton steam road roller from England. The former has been at work of Kennedy Town for a short time with very satisfactory results, many tons of the blue stoue being broken at about the same cost as the softest granite. The steam road roller has arrived from England. and there is every reason to expect that in a few years the condition of the roads, when covered with a thoroughly consolidated layer of hard clean stone. blinded with grit of the same nature, will be greatly improved. A common complaint against machine stone crushers is the large quantity of fine grit formed in the process. This will be no drawback here, as the grit from this blue stone is a perfect material for coucrete on foot paths and in places where a fine but not slip- pery surface is required.
Līme concrete is found to be a bad material for any road exposed to heavy traffic; it quickly wears into deep holes, and a lime concrete road. way patched is by no means satisfactory. For roads such as the New Praya a heavy coating of macadam overlying a solid foundation of larger stone, thoroughly consolidated to a smooth surface by the steam roller, will last much longer and prove far easier to repair.
THE ROYAL
ONGKONG GULF CLUB.
PROFESSION PAIRS TOURNAMENT.
During the past month members have been engaged in the above competition, for which eighteen couples entered. The winners tied with their opponents in the final match after a olosely contested game, bat on replaying it a week later rather easily defeated them, the losers being decidedly off colour and. losing the first five holes straight away, being finally beaten by this number of holes and four to play. The winners played steady golf in both the finals, Mr. Lane being, we think, all round the steadier of the pair.
FIRST TIES.
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Mr. C. Palmer and Mr. E. A. Ram (architects), Mr. V. A. U. Hawkins and Mr. J. Thurbarn (bankers), Mr. C. W. May and Mr. P. de C. Morriss (bankers), Mr. J. Hastings and Mr. E. J. Grist (lawyers), Ur. Atkinson and Dr. Bell (medical), Dr. Lowson and Capt: Ramsey (civil service), Lient. Rotherham, R.W.F., and Lient. Lloyd, R.W.F. (military), Mr. C. W. Dickson and Mr. G. T. Veitch (merchants), Mr. E. C. Lane and Mr. C. M. G. Burnie (underwriters), Mr. C. H. Grace and Mr. W. Taylor (non- descripts), Mr. G. Stewart and Mr. M. Stewart (finance), Lieut. Izat, R.A., and Lieut. Tulloch, R.A. (military), Bishop of Victoria and Rev. G. B. Vallings (church), Mr. R. H. Hill and Mr. H. W. Robertson (merchants), all byes. Mr. E. E. Deacon and Mr. J. F. Noble (bankers) receiving 6 strokes were beaten by Mr. C. A. Tomes and Mr. H. L. Dalrymple (merchants) by 5 up and 4 to play, and Lieut. Making, T.N., and Lieut. Henderson, R.N., (nayy) succumbed to Lieut. Ballard, R.N,, and Lieut Maclachlan, B.N., by 6 up and 4 to play.
BECOND. TIES.. Messrs. Palmer and Ram, playing even with Messrs. Hawkins and Thurburu, after a tie, defeated their opponents in a second match by 5 up had 4 to play. Messrs Hastings and Grist scratched to Messrs. May and Morriss. Dr. Lowson and Capt. Ramsey, owing 9 strokes. defeated Drs. Atkinson and Bell by 8 up and 6 to play. Lieuts. Rotherham and Lloyd scratched to Messrs. Dickson and Veitch. Messrs. Lane and Burnie playing even won from Messrs. Grace and Taylor by 4 up and 3, to play. Messrs. Stewart and Stewart, owing 4 strokes, beat Lients. Izat and Tulloch by 3 up and 1 to play. Messrs. Hill and Robertson, receiving 2 strokes, defeated the representatives of the | church by 7 up and 6 to play, Liouts. Bullard and Maclachlan scratched to Messrs. Tomes and Dalrymple.
THIRD TIES
Messrs. Palmer and Ram, receiving 5 strokes. defeat d Messrs. Morriss and May by 7 up and 5 to play. Dr. Lowson and Capt. Ramsey, owing 9 strokes. `beat essrs. Dickson and Veitch by 7 up and 6 to play. Messrs. Lane and Burnie. receiving 4 strokes. won against the B others Stewart. Messrs. Hill and Robert- son, receiving 2 strokes, gave way to Messrs. Tomes and Dalrymple by 2 up and 1 to play.
SEMI-FINAL,
Messrs. Palmer and Ram, receiving 5 strokes, defeated Dr. Lowson and Capt. Rumsey by 3 up and 2 to play, and Messrs. Lane and Burnie. receiving 2 strokes. won from Messrs. Tomes and Dalrymple by 6 up and 5 to play.
FINAL.
Messrs. Lane and Burnie, playing on even terms against Messrs. Palmer and Ram, after bring "dermy". 2 at the sixteenth hole, halved
the match, but on playing it over again a week later won from their opponents somewhat easily by 5 пp and 4 to play.
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CORRESPONDENCE,
[We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents.]
THE CONSTRUCTION OF CHINESE
HOUSES,
TO THE EDITOR OF THE
DAILY PRESS.
**
SIR, With reference to the remarks of Mr. Osborne made at the meeting of the Sanitary Board held on Thursday afternoon last, condem- ning in strong terms the plau we submitted for rebuilding L.L. 517 and 222, Queen's Road Fast and Wingfung Street, we wish to state that we disagree with him entirely, as we decidedly do not consider that the houses as proposed will be insanitary, and sufficient light and air areØ 86- eared.
On the other hand, the houses that existed before and faced the lane, which Mr. Osborne regrets is done away with, were very insanitary and cannot be compared with the houses pro- posed to be built. However, this is a matter of opinion, and we wish to point out that the pre- sent Public Health Laws and bye-laws were not made without some thought and consideration and as architecta we can only take notice of such existing laws, which we venture to say are | sufficient.
We think that in houses built according to the present laws the danger of plague lies in the condition the houses are allowed to be kept and not in the planning nor in the construction,
-We are, sir, &o., &.,
LEIGH & ORANGE. Hongkong, 9th June, 1899.
A PERFECT SYSTEM OF DRAINAGE.
"J
TO THE EDITOR OF THE "DAILY PRESS.
SIE,-Is there anything in the atmosphere of Hongkong, or in the soil, or is it emanations of fonl gases from the drains which leads to deca- dence in "the men who are sent from home to govern this colony ?" In the Hon. Mr. Ormsby we have a man of undoubted ability in his pro- fession, one whom we cannot but admire for the earnest but unobtrusive manner in which he carries out his work, and, from all we see or hear of him, one of the last men who would be suspected of allowing himself to descend to an
[June 17, 1899. indulgence in “the insolence of office.” Yet, from the opening
ng paragraph of his Report one
is almost tempted to fear that he has not been able to avoid being slightly touched by that pharisaical feeling of contempt for the common herd, that is, all who are not within the sacred circle of officialdom. He speaks of the complaints "made by thoughtless and ignorant speakers or irresponsible writers, who seem to think it clever, or a sign of superior knowledge, to decry the Hongkong system of sewerage and drainage,” while in the same paragraph he says, "it is a fact that the Chinese do misuse the drains.” Now that is the very reason which was given by the "thoughtless and ignorant speakers and writers, including most if not all of the quali fied civil engineers in the Colony, why the perfect" separate system is not suited for this place, and will not be for some generations yet, that is, till the Chinese coolie changes bis nature and becomes "as one of us.' But the observa--/ tion and experience gained by the thousands, dr even by those with a special knowledge of the subject, who have spent half their lives amongst the Chinese goes for nothing. The standard of education, and therefore the power of induction and deduction, of the average European here is certainly much higher than that of the average citizen in England, yet we are "thoughtless and ignorant" when we dare to hint that the " per.
feat
home
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theories are not applicable in practice in this place. What folly! Did not the men sent from to drain and teach us get their theories from books, from Standard Authorities? It did not matter that the Standard Authorities know nothing of and could not conceive of the habits of the Chinese, they are the Standard Authorities, and if 'the practice in China cannot be made to work under theories evolved in England that is the misfortune of the residents in China. They have the remedy in their own hands; they must
I
alter the nature and habits of the Chinese at once, so as to have them ready before the new sewers on the perfect system are completed. I do not deny the "perfection" of the system in theory, but, independent of its utter inapplic ability to Hongkong or any other city in China, that it has not been carried out to per- say fection. I can point to cases where in laying the new system an attempt has been made to make water run up hill, with the result that stagnant sullage water is always lying under the windows. This resulted in two deaths in next door houses, one from typhoid fever and one from diphtheria. I once in speak- ing to Mr. Cooper, before these deaths occur. red, ventured to express the opinion that water could not be made to run up hill, with which he greed "in theory," but his depart. ment nevertheless allowed the attempt to be made, doubtless because in some cases the only alternatives were to leave the old drains (which had never given any trouble), or to pull down the houses and relay the foundations.
The same blind adherence to theory has caused and is likely to cause every dry season a scarcity of water with all the attendant evils. The thoughtless and ignorant public warned the authorities that it would be disastrous to put water into Chinese houses; that the Chinese would waste far more than they would use ; that they would be quite content with street hydrants, which are an immense convenience compared to their having to fetch the water from the streams as they had always been accustomed and were content to do, and that they would not wash their bodies or their houses one bit more because the water was close at hand. But no, the right principle is to have a constant supply laid on in every house, and, had not the Director of Public Works just come from home and therefore knew all abogt it, while the European residents who knew from experience that the Chinese would be quite satisfied with street hydrants and that putting the water into their houses would lead to enormous waste impossible to check ware thoughtless and ignorant? It is that same mistake which is made in many other directions. We want the Chinaman to change his habits and adopt our civilization at a day's notice, The consequence is that we do not effect change at all, while if we would recognize that it can only be done by degrees and would 'hasten slowly” we should make some progresa towards the desired ends.
B
Ever since this perfect system was inaugur- ated in Hongkong the house sowers have been
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