40805
THE WATER SUPPLY QUESTION.
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[June 16, 19007
cannot be viewed with equanimity. If any organised attack is made on the French under the name of consulate-guards there troops said to be at Mengtze--presumably is no doubt that France will grasp at the plausible excuse for further concessions ten- ding to bring southern Yunnan-within her sphere.
(Daily Press, 10th June.) The urgent subject of the Water Supply of Hongkong has been much to the front this In his recent report for 1899 the Medical Offical of Health pointed out that the Colony's water supply had again proved deficient last year, a service varying from one to four hours only having been allowed to the city for eight weeks during the period from April to June. It is clear, therefore," he continued, "that the water-supply gen- erally is inadequate for the needs of the population, and in view of the steady in- crease in the population I am more than "ever convinced that there should be no "further delay in setting up the necessray pumping plant and in providing reservoirs "and service pipes for the supply of sea- "water for all municipal purposes, unless a greatly increased fresh-water supply can "be obtained at a less cost than that which “would be incurred by the installation of "such plant." Dr. CLARK then went on to deprecate the employment of good potable water, such as we are fortunate to possess in Hongkong, for the purposes of flushing the drains, etc. In supporting his motion be- fore the Sanitary Board on Thursday he restated his case and put it still more strongly, pointing out that the pre- sent storage capacity for the city amounts to 500 million gallons and the ut- most possible storage capacity, after the completion of Mr. F. A. COOPER's scheme, will be about 700 million gallons; and that only in very wet seasons will it be possible to have these reservoirs full. Mr. CoOPER in his report in 1896 estimated the consump-capital mistake. However, the supply is now tion of water per head at 15 gallons a day furnished, and a means of checking waste since then it has risen to 17 gallons a day, has not been devised yet. so that, in Dr. CLARK's words," that gentle- agree with those who condemn the original Whether we 's sanguine expectations as to the suffici- supplying of water direct to the Chinese ency of our water-supply for some years to or not, whether a reversion come have scarcely been realized." Dr. method of sanitation is impractible, un- to the old CLARK is whole-hearted in his advocacy of desirable, the installation of a sea-water supply.
or not, there can be no difficulties," he said,
The dispute that under the present system we with regard to the cannot do without a greater water-supply use of sea-water have been overcome in and cannot afford to remain at the mercy of many even of the smaller sea-coast towns the rainfall. More water, be it fresh or
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND | above all because of the possibility of a con- stant supply, which hitherto we have never that we have to depend on so capricious a been able to secure, for the very good reason factor as the rainfall. It is therefore sin- cerely to ba hoped that the Government will consent to appoint a conumittee, as suggested by the Sanitary Board, who may make an exhaustive enquiry into this vexed question need not be said, cuts directly at the Such an encroachment, it and show whether it is or is not within the scheme for opening Szechuen and the Upper means of the Colony to adopt some system Yangtze to British trade, for once a railway of sea-water flushing. Should the result of is firmly established from this region to the the enquiry be against the scheme, the Gulf of Tongking the chances of any other necessity for increasing the fresh-water will become
route competing successfully will be ex- more urgent than it is tremely shadowy. In the excitement en- membered that, inadequate as our now. In the meantime, it must be re-gendered by the exertion of at last making supply is now, and though all indications that our interests in the south-west will not a move in North China, it is to be trusted point to a growth of population in the near be overlooked by the home Government, for, future which must outstrip any possible in- important as the northern question is, any. past a prolonged period of drought has in the Yangtze region is still more vital to crease of water storage, while even in the thing tending to affect the position of affairs always exposed Hongkong to the perils of a water famine or at best has led to the adop-
our national interests. tion of an intermittent supply at the most dangerous period of the year, as occurred in the great plague year of 1894-in spite of all this, if means were taken to check the present waste of water which is constantly going on, principally in the Chinese portions of the city, we should not be so often brought near to a water-famine as we have been. Were there no unnecessary waste and no illicit turning to commercial purposes of the water intended for domestic purposes only, we should not be so badly placed. There are not wanting many who consider that the supplying of a house to house sys- tem of water to the Chinese houses was a
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on all interested in the health of the Colony to interest themselves in the problem how
of England, and there is no excuse what-salt, is a vital necessity, and it is incumbent ever why a city such as Victoria should longer delay in adopting what is now one of the most ordinary and commonplace secure it. "methods for augmenting the water supply
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THE OUTBREAK IN YUNNAN.
4
14
THE POST OFFICE BUILDING,
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(Daily Press, 13th June./ General for the year 1899, which by the way In the report of the Acting Postmaster- is rather late in its appearance (owing, no doubt, to recent changes in the Department), Mr. CORNEWALL LEWIS
says:- 'Beyond some changes in the style of sorting cases, there have been no improvements in the Post Office, nor has there been any in. crease in the much-needed space. Light ' and ventilation are much required, and, with the long hours obtaining in this office, I may remark both are essential to the He adds, what has been in every resident's health and well-being of the employés." mouth for years, "It is much to be desired "that the new Post Office will soon be taken in.hand." Seeing that it has been decided to rebuild the Post Office on its present site and part of that now occupied by the Supreme Court, and that the foundations of the new Law Courts are just about to be commenced, it will be at least four or five years before work on a new Post Office can lay is certainly much to be regretted. The even be commenced. This prospective de- building in which the Post Office is now domiciled was erected to accommodate the business of the department when it was about one-tenth of what it now is, and ingenuity has been exhausted in endeavour- ing to make the habitation suffice for the long recognised the absolute impossibility ever growing needs. The Government has
of the work being efficiently performed in the present cramped quarters, and we are glad to learn that temporary measures are being adopted to increase the accommo
required for such purposes as are speci- "fied in the terms of the resolution," that is to say the watering of streets, the flushing of the main sewers, the extinction
(Daily Press, 15th June The news which comes from Yunnan of of fires, and the flushing of the many public an anti-foreign outbreak confirms the idea urinals so urgently needed throughout the that the so-called Boxer agitation is not city. Mr. COOPER in 1896 did not disregard merely the local affair which the authorities the possibility of employing sea-water for have persisted in regarding it, but is part such purposes. He said: Though the use of a general movement throughout the em-lation. "of sea-water favours deposit in sewers, its pire of the reactionary and exclusive ele
adoption for street watering has advan-ments. Indications of this have been con- tages over the use of fresh water and may stantly cropping up, most of them, it is true "with advantage be used in comparatively "level localities." He added, however been won over by agitators. Many believe, n the North, but gradually the South has Any project for the utilisation of sea-water with our Tientsin correspondent, that only "in the City of Victoria owing to the vary-
the influence of LI HONG-CHANG has ing elevation of the built area must neces- succeeded in keeping quiet the turbulent sarily involve the installation and main-section in the Two Kwang. If so we have "tenance of pumping machinery and the cause for much gratitude to the old Viceroy, "construction of service reservoirs in addi- in spite of the generally obstructive nature "tion to those used for the water supplied of his policy where British interests have "for potable purposes. It would further been concerned.
be necessary to lay throughout the City a
But the alarming feature of the Yunnan rising is the threat of separate system of distribution-mains and complications with France. None of the hydrants." The cost of such a project, he | Powers are concerned much with the extreme stated, would not compare favourably with south-western province except ourselves that of the scheme for increasing the storage and France; and as it is the growth of French influence in the south-east of the province which seems, from the brief words of our telegram, to be the immediate cause of the present disturbance, the situation
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of fresh water.
This question of cost stands in the way of the introduction of a scheme for sea-water, otherwise admirable on many grounds and
demolition of the servants' quarters and the This is being effected by the erection on their site, north of the main building, of a carried on with something like expedition hat important branch of work can be new Sorting Room, where
and comfort. been erected at the back of the Land Office, New servants' quarters have and, though doubtless far from welcome there, they at least will be more out of the way. The new building, being strictly of the nature of a makeshift, will of course be of the plainest description consistent with its very prominent position. We trust that the provision of this greatly needed annexe to the Post Office will not, in any way, be allowed to cause the postponement or any delay in the erection of the projected public buildings.
The Law Courts have been sanctioned, the plans approved, the super- vising architect sent out, and we can only hope that the work of erection will proceed at a rate surpassing all expectation. Every
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