October 6, 1902.]
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
formerly abutted on No. 56, on the east side; 56, but it was really a question of watching tho and this wall formed a strut between the houses exposed party wall carefully and properly sup. in Centre Street and No. 56. The propping-up porting it. The plan produced indicated No. of that portion of No. 58 which remained would, First Etreet, but not No. 58; it was not give no support to No. 5. The support having necessary to show No. 58, as the house was not been withdrawn from No. 56, it was the duty to be reconstructad. The plan really showed of the man who was pulling down the houses everything that was needful, the only point in Centre Street and No. 58, First Street to being that something should have been shown have removed the occupants of No. 56 and 50 as to make good the party wall which pulled down its western wall. There was De was to be remored between Nos. 56 and 58. reference on the notice sent to the P.W.D. to It was the duty of the person in the P.W.D, houses in First Street, and looking at the plau receiving a plan to insp et the site, and shown him, witness did not think there was a if as a result lie thought the plan required house or habitation over the covered passage. amending, to have it amended; the mers prop- way referred to by previous witnesses. There ping-up of a wall did not nee ss tate such an was nothing in the plan in fact, to put him on amendment. If attention was called to the bad enquiry as to the houses in question, and he condition of a wall, it would be itsp cted by an considered that the houses referred to were
officer of the P.W.D. and a notice served on the solely those in Centre Street. The plans did
owner to take the necessary steps. not conform with Section 69 of the Building Ord uance: they did not show the position and levels of the surrounding ground and bui dings, Witness saw some remains of shoring when he visited No. 56, First Street, and it looked to be of the average sort; it appeared to him, however, that the wall had not been properly shored up. The only effectual way of dealing with the wall of No. 56 was to have pulled it down.
"
covered
į
By Mr. Goldring-Witness had not measured house No. 56 on the ground, and it was po sible that a porticu overlapped 1.L. 758, where No. 58 is situate. To his knowledge, there was no record in the P.W.D. showing that the houses had been inspected since they were buit, and he personally could not say whether they were or not; he could not even say if it was likely they had been inspected. Cracks were to be seen in the wall at No. 56 before it collapsed. There was no official in the P.W.D. whose duty it was to inspect old buildings in the Colony, so that nothing could be dous in the way of ascor- taining their condition and taking any steps that were considered necessary. If the collapso had not occurred, the cracks in the wall would have been growing worse and worse, and unless some official saw them and made a report. nothing would be doue. The words passage" did not convey to his mind that there was a house above that passage; there were not many ach passages passages without houses overhead in the Colony; had he thought of thero being a house overhead in the present case, he might have made a personal inspection of the site, or sent someone to do so. A plan should be correct in itself, and it was not check ed on the ground unless there was something palpably wrong with it when it was sent in the P.W.D. He did not think that the failurs to check the plau in the pressut e so was res- pusible for a good deal of what happened. Witness inspected the ground floor of No. 5, and found that the supporting pillar of the first floor was broken away n ar the top. That defect, however, had not caused the collapse.
By Mr. Dennys-Neither the notice nor the plan sent to the P.W.D. made any reference to the houses in First Street, and such reference should have been made, a cording to the Ordi-
Dance.
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As to the plan shown him, he did not think anyone was entitle, judging from what was shown on that plan, to touch No. 58, beca se, being a numbered house, it was not mentioned in the notice, which spoke only of houses 27 o 41, Centre Street.
By Mr. Goldring-Witness consi'ered there were indications before the collapse that the wall needed support.
The enquiry was adjourned.
MACAO.
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
Macao, 29th September..
THE ROYAL BIRTHDAY.
The birthday of their Majesties the King and Queen of Portugal was loyally and successfully Mr. Donnys (after reading the setlon in the
ed drated in Mac yesterday, when delightful Ordinancey Was it not me reary that that } westhur E.voured the festivities. In the morn- plan should have shown the houss 1 las palding at half-past eight a Te Deum was sung in down as well as those to be built?-The the Cathedral, and the service was attended by wording of the Ordinanes stainly requires all the officials and the naval and militany officers it. According to trit. No. 58 ought to
in full dress. At ten o'clock there was a have been mentione
reception at Gorerumeut House, and at five o'clock in the afternoon there was a parade at the Barracks, when a new flag worked by the ladies of Macao, which had been consecrated at the morning service, was presented to the troops. In the e.euing there was a ball given by the Acting Governor at Government House, and the Praya was tastefully decorated with Japanese lanterns. H.M.S. Moorhen arrived on Friday for the occasion, and will leave again to-day for Hongkong.
Mr. Dennys-There was nothing on the plans to show that No. 5 was going to be pulled down?-No.
Mr. Donnys-Without mentioning No. the owner had no right to pull down any portion
of it?—No
By Mr. Gabring-The words “covered pas- sage-way" on a plan would not necessarily lead to the pre-umption that there was a house overhead. Plans sent in to the P.W.D. usually showed what buildings were to be pulled down. The party wall between Nos. 56 and 58. First Street was exposed by the demolition of No. 53. The necessity for the support arose from the inherent defect of the wall itself, which, it could be seen, was an old one, In the event of a plan bear in the words "Plan ouly; Lo supervision," there was no systematic supervision undertaken by the P.W.D. Witness did not see why the Government should provide property woers with supervision; property-owners should have somo responsibility. Had there been a pillar between the first and second floors the collapso probably would not have taken place.
Ho
F. T. B. Hewitt, building surveyor and a Civil servant employed by the War Department, related his qualifications, and experiene and sail he had been attached to the Royal
Engineers out here since June, 1901. bad visited No. 3, First Street three times since the collapse, and had been up on the roof and into the houses in the vicinity, including what remained of No. 58. His first visit was mad+ on 25th August, when he noted the natura of the collapse. Th's he scribed to the Court. He should say that the secoul-floor kitchen floor, which had fallen down on the first floor, dd not fall on account of any defects it possessed of itself; it was au old floor, but no' in need of renewal. The rouf was in its ordinary position, but damaged at the western end; this he discovered on Lis second visit. The joists of the roof of No. 56 werd good, and must have been so, for they remained in position when the support of the western withstood the shock of the second floor falling upon it, and did not sag. as far he could in the slightest degree; the damage on the ground floor was triding, the brick pier there being miuus only a brick or two at the top; witness was quite satisfied that had nothing to do with the collapse. He did not think there was much water about, and had there been fo merly, witness was of opinion the joists woul have shown the effects much plainer then they did. To sum it up, the kitchen floors and ceiling were in a good condition. The portion of wall left stand. ing did not appear to be in good condition. | There were cavities in it due to the uneven size of the bricks, and it was not perly bonded. Altogether, the wall was not a 17 well built oue. The pulling down of the other houses hd dep ivel No. 16 of support, to cum- pensate for which shoring was necessa y, shoring he saw he did not consider to be good shoring, although it was of the class usually employed in Hongkong. (Witness handed in a rough sketch showing how, in his opinion, shoring ought to be carried out.) He did not consider that the shoring at No. 56 was adequate.
Mr. Tooker's cross-examination by Mr. Goldring gave rise to many amusing passages, which proved a welcome r lief from the drywall of No. 5 was withdrawn. The first floor tedium of the enquiry.
Hon. W. Chatham, the Director of Public Works, said he had been in the P.W.D. here for about twelve years and a half. He knew nothing whatever about No. 56, First Street, which appeared from the records to have been built before 1873, Heiuspected the house on 20th August and before that bad already received reports from his officers. After describing the nature of the collapse as it appeared to him on his first visit, witness said he did not recollect noticing any promin- ent defect in that portion of the wall of No. 581 ft standing. The demolition of the wall of No. 58 bad deprived No. 56 of support on that particular side, and the loss of that support was not compensated for by the shoring placed against No. 56. The collapsed wall was by uo means sol dly bu It, and was constructed of blus bricks; there was evidence of a great want of bond, and the mortar was of very poor quality. | Witness attributed the collapse to the removal of No. 58 and the want of substituted support, added to the very bad qulity of the work and exposure to the weather. It would have been a prudent course to remove the people in No.
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The
A FRENCH FLEET.
Last Wednesday a French fleet arrived here.-not, however, such as was calculated to inspire fears of an attack on Hongkong and Macao in these modern times, useful as they might have been a thousand years ago. They were is fact only trading junks from Kwan- chauwan with various cargoes, more interested in their own business than in the glorious future of the State whose flag they bore.
LOCAL ITEMS.
The weather here of late has been cool and
bright, and yesterday there was a large number. of visitors from Hongkong and Canton. Un- fortunately deugue fever has claimed a much larger number of victims lately, but now as before it appears in a mild form.
CANTON.
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
Cantor, 29th September.
A BIG FIRE. It is a custom in Canton about this time
every year to fight crickets for the purpos of gambling. It is much the same as cock-fighting in Manila, for large sums of monies are staked. In a place named Pa Chow, nct far from here, about two hours' voyage by steam launch, there are some large matsteds for theatricals, restaur- ants, and cricket-fighting, and large numbers of flower-boats went there to accommodate the gu sts. About 2 o'clock in the morning of the 26th inst. the theatre caught fire, the flames spreading all round and burning the matsheds and several flower-boats. A large number of people were killed, estimated at from one hundred aud fifty to two hundred. It is suspected to be an act of incendiarism by some thieves, who went there to follow their profession.
THE NEW VICEROY,
It is customary in China that to be a viceroy or governor of a province one must be old and pos ess great experience in official affairs. H. E, Li Hing Yui, the provincial governor of Canton, is 75, five years older than H. E. Tak Sow, the Acting Viceroy. But he is still strong and healthy.
was
AN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. Last year an agricultural institution established by permission of the Viceroy in Honam. It was under the management of Yip Man Chun and others. By the sule of mauners this institution was making a good load of money. Somehow or other the partners disagreed, and one of them petitioned the Viceroy, and by order of His Excellency the institution was closed and its business stopped. Seeing that a good chance of making money was thus lost, fresh arrangements were made
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